Public appointment: Chair reappointed to Dumfries and Galloway NHS Board

The Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care, Humza Yousaf MSP today announced the reappointment of Mr Nicholas Morris as Chair of Dumfries and Galloway NHS Board.

Chair

Nicholas Morris has over 33 years’ experience working within NHS Health and Social care services, with ten years’ experience as Executive Director of a large Mental Health and Social care NHS Trust. He had director responsibilities over that time for Clinical and Corporate Governance, Nurse Director, Strategic Planning and Business continuity.  Nicholas originally trained as a Psychiatric Nurse, specialising in acute care and then moved into community mental health care within a social services environment.  His career then progressed to a range of strategic planning roles in mental health care, at Health Board, Regional and Department of Health level.

Nicholas has specialised in developing stakeholder approaches to service redesign, with a focus on utilising public health data and community needs assessments in order to drive through increased equality of care provision. He has implemented major service re-design that has ensured people receive the care they need earlier in their care journey.  He is a passionate advocate for the integration of health and social care services – built around localities that mean access to care is simplified and the outcomes of care are built around the expectations of the public.

As he moves in to his 2nd term of four years, Nicholas will have the opportunity to build upon the relationships across partners and the work they have done to date to promote the wellbeing of local people.

Reappointment

The reappointment for Mr Morris is for four years, from 1 January 2023 to 31 December 2026.

The reappointment is regulated by the Ethical Standards Commissioner.

Remuneration

The appointment is part-time and attracts an annual remuneration of £33,052 for a time commitment of three days per week.

Other ministerial appointments

Mr Morris does not hold any other public appointments.

Political activity

All appointments are made on merit and political activity plays no part in the selection process.  However, in accordance with the original Nolan recommendations, there is a requirement for appointees’ political activity within the last five years (if there is any to be declared) to be made public.   

Ms Morris has had no political activity within the last five years.

Background

NHS Dumfries and Galloway is responsible for meeting the health needs of over 150,000 people living in the region, and works with partner organisations to provide a comprehensive range of primary, community-based and acute hospital services tailored for the whole population.