The search for a new chair of NHS Highland has been unsuccessful after no suitable candidate was found after the position was advertised.
Three candidates applied for the post and it is understood that interviews were held recently.
Current chairman Garry Coutts will step down on March 31 next year, after serving the maximum of three consecutive four-year terms.
He is the longest-serving chair of a health board in Scotland and has steered the health board during a turbulent time, which has included a range of financial and recruitment problems.
The part-time post of NHS Highland chair requires a commitment of at least three days a week for a remuneration of £29,640.
The Scottish Government is also re-advertising for the chair of NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.
The advertisement states that they want to hear from people with “the senior level experience required for these significant appointments, which come at an exciting time of transitional change for the NHS in Scotland”.
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “It is important that the right individual is selected for this position. The previous application round did not identify a suitable candidate to take up the role, which is why it has been re-advertised.”
Mr Coutts first joined the NHS Highland board in 2002 as the nominated local authority councillor for Highland Council and took up the position of chair in April 2004.
The closing date for applications is midnight on September 16.
Interviews will be held at the Golden Jubilee National Hospital and Beardmore Hotel in Clydebank on October 8.
Mary Scanlon, Conservative MSP for the Highlands and islands, said that the board had tackled most of the problems highlighted in a recent Audit Scotland report.
She added: “It would be a great honour and privilege to take over this board. I know from being an MSP since 1999 that there are plenty of talented, able and suitable people across the region who are more than capable of taking this over.
“Now it is moving forward more positively, it is a good time for someone new to come in.”