Public appointment: Members appointed to Lothian NHS Board

The Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care, Neil Gray MSP today announced the appointments of Heather Campbell and Ralph Roberts as Members of Lothian NHS Board. 

Members 

Heather Campbell brings over 35 years’ experience in the NHS and Civil Service. She is passionate about continuous quality improvement, public service reform and is committed to engaging with people and working strategically and collaboratively with partners to design and deliver high quality public services. Heather spent the last 8 years within Scottish Government, leading a portfolio of complex whole system change programmes.  She led the Primary Care response to the Covid pandemic and successfully established 9 Local Authority partnerships focussed on reducing inequalities and tackling child poverty through better integrated whole family support. Before joining Scottish Government, Heather held several senior leadership roles within the NHS, latterly as Director of Strategic Planning and Quality Improvement with Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS), leading on a range of service improvement programmes, including major trauma services, paramedic graduate education and Scotland's air ambulance service.   

Ralph Roberts is a career NHS manager having worked for NHS Scotland for more than 35 years. He has worked in managerial roles and as a Director on NHS Boards. He has also spent the last 14 years of his career as Chief Executive, firstly in NHS Shetland and latterly in NHS Borders. Ralph is keen to bring to NHS Lothian his experience of strategic planning and continuous improvement to services as well as a passion for creating a positive working environment for staff.  

Appointment 

These appointments will be for 4 years and will run from 28 July 2025 to 27 July 2029. 

These appointments are regulated by the Ethical Standards Commissioner. 

Remuneration 

These appointments are part-time and attract a remuneration of £14,352, for a time commitment of 52 days per year. 

Other ministerial appointments 

Heather Campbell and Ralph Roberts do not hold any other ministerial 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.    

Heather Campbell and Ralph Roberts have had no political activity within the last five years.  

Background 

NHS Lothian is responsible for protecting and improving the health of the 850,000 population across Lothian and works closely with local authorities and third sector partners in providing an integrated system of community-based health and social care across East Lothian, Edinburgh, Midlothian and West Lothian. They also provide some services for patients in the Borders and in Fife and are a national centre of expertise for some specialties provided to people across Scotland.