Board members at NHS Grampian are to be retrained after a key report found that members had been unaware of critical problems at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.
Interviews for a new chairperson are also to be held next week after the appointment was fast tracked by the Scottish Government in light of Bill Howatson’s resignation from the £35,000-a-year post in October.
Moves are being made to make the board – which should scrutinise the work of health service managers – more robust after the failings were identified in a report published by Healthcare Improvement Scotland on Tuesday.
Interim chief executive Malcolm Wright said: “We need to firstly focus on the board and the systems of governance and we need to bring greater rigour and scrutiny to the work of the executive team.
“We will work with the board to develop an understanding of roles and responsibilities of non-executive directors and to get the flow of information right.
“I have been a chief executive of the NHS Scotland for 20 years and I have seen some really good examples of how boards work well.”
Former Aberdeen City Council official Rhona Atkinson and former headteacher Eric Sinclair from Aboyne, a volunteer with the Stroke Association, will help oversee the governance of NHS Grampian.
Board members are paid £8,088 for a time commitment of eight hours per week.
The HIS report found the board had been “insufficiently aware of several of the problems facing Aberdeen Royal Infirmary” specifically in relation to the emergency department and the poor reports from doctors in training.