An Aberdeen health and care body will undertake a nation-wide headhunt after its two most senior staff members left in quick succession.
Tens of thousands of pounds have been set aside to fund an exhaustive search for the high level leadership needed to take forward The Aberdeen City Health and Social Care Partnership.
The ACHSCP is a collaboration between the council, NHS and third sector bodies and has a lead role in the provision of health and social care across the city.
Earlier this year the body balanced its multi-million pound budget for the year ahead but the chairman of the Integrated Joint Board (IJB), the body which oversees AHSCP decisions, warned a meeting of the IJB yesterday that “challenges” lay ahead.
First up will be the appointment of a new chief officer, with the much lauded Judith Proctor leaving for the Edinburgh equivalent of the body.
And in a second blow, head of joint operations Tom Cowan announced last week he would also be heading out the exit door to join Ms Proctor in the capital.
IJB members who met to decide on the process for appointing Ms Proctor’s successor admitted they would have big shoes to fill.
The post, understood to come with a £99,625 annual salary, will be advertised throughout the country from April 23.
Around £10,000 is to be spent on an external “recruitment partner” to help with the search, while a further £10,000 pot has been set aside to fund an advertising campaign in local and national newspapers and online.
Queens Cross, Hazlehead and Countesswells councillor John Cooke, who sits on the board, said he would like to see more IJB members on the recruitment panel.
He said: “I think it would be better to have more representatives on the panel.
“If all voting members are consulted then that would show the confidence we all have in the new chief executive.
“I just think that eight voices are better than four.”
IJB vice-chair Sarah Duncan, however, raised concerns that having large interview panels can be “intimidating” for potential applicants.
She added: “All members of the IJB will have the chance to participate. “
IJB chair Jonathan Passmore said that the fact the Edinburgh partnership had appointed Ms Proctor was a “positive” endorsement of the good work she had done in the post.
He added that any appointment made would have to have unanimous approval of the panel.
The meeting ended with a round of applause for Ms Proctor’s efforts.
