Scottish Government Permanent Secretary John-Paul Marks was delighted to visit NHS Lanarkshire to hear about the exceptional work being done across the organisation.
Chief Executive Professor Jann Gardner, Chair Martin Hill and Director of Public Health Professor Josephine Pravinkumar were joined by NHS Lanarkshire colleagues during the Permanent Secretary’s visit.
This visit allowed Professor Gardner and colleagues to share and showcase NHS Lanarkshire’s transformation and reform improvement work with staff across the organisation working together to redesign and evolve our services to meet the needs of our population.
The Permanent Secretary said: “It was a pleasure to visit NHS Lanarkshire and to meet with Professor Gardner and her wider team to see your exceptional progress as an anchor institution to improve local health and wellbeing.
“It was my privilege to meet colleagues and discuss progress on employment, procurement, estates and community asset transfers, and to see the inspiring progress at Croy Community Hub.
“I hope we can continue to work together to reform our public services, developing community empowerment and resilience, as we strive to deliver better experiences and outcomes in Lanarkshire and across Scotland. Thank you for your leadership and feedback, we wish you very well with your important work in the year ahead.”
Professor Gardner added: “We were delighted to welcome the Permanent Secretary to Lanarkshire and share our ambitious plans for reform.
“The Permanent Secretary was given an overview of NHS Lanarkshire’s strong strategic commitment as an active anchor organisation to help mitigate against some of the drivers of socioeconomic inequalities within Lanarkshire.
“This included details of the anchor principles reflected in the corporate objectives and embedded into NHS Lanarkshire healthcare strategy Our Health Together.
“The Permanent Secretary had the opportunity to meet staff members Gemma McCormick, Iman Hussain and Katie Muir who are all currently participating in NHS Lanarkshire’s employability programmes. They shared empowering stories that emphasise the importance of our commitment to recruiting our staff locally and supporting employability programmes.”
The Permanent Secretary was also given an overview of the community benefits of the Monklands Replacement Project (MRP) plans, our exciting vision for a replacement University Hospital Monklands at Wester Moffat, Airdrie.
Professor Gardner said: “The Monklands Replacement Project provides an excellent opportunity to advance the role of NHS Lanarkshire as an anchor organisation, utilising our new and innovative approaches both the hospital build process as well as the regeneration of the existing site and this has been reflected in the action plan.”
Professor Gardner and colleagues then welcomed the Permanent Secretary to Croy Community Hub, a local charity nestled in the heart of the village.
