Public appointment: members reappointed to the Scottish Ambulance Service Board

The Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care, Humza Yousaf MSP today announced the reappointments of Irene Oldfather and Madeline Smith as Members of the Scottish Ambulance Service Board.

Members

Irene Oldfather is Director at the ALLIANCE leading on Strategic Partnerships and Engagement and therefore brings a strong background in citizen participation and engagement. As a Member of the Scottish Parliament (1999-2011), Irene set up and chaired the Cross Party Group on Alzheimer’s and Dementia which drafted and agreed the Charter of Rights for People with Dementia and their Carers. She is very committed to human rights based approaches to health and social care and sees this as fundamental to improving service design.

Irene's work also extends to Europe where she is currently chair of European Patients’ Academy (EUPATI) Scotland National Liaison Team (NLT), as well as representing Scotland's third sector on the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC). As an MSP Irene chaired the European and External Relations Committee for most of her 12 year term. She actively campaigns on the rights of older people and was the first ever Member of the Scottish Parliament to be nominated and shortlisted for Dod’s 2009 UK Parliamentary Award for Services to Older People. Irene also recently stood down as Chair of National Dementia Carers Action Network (NDCAN) having served as Chair for four years. 

Irene was educated at Strathclyde University, where she obtained an Honours degree in Politics and a post graduate MSc by Research.

Madeline Smith is a chartered engineer with experience from the private, public and academic sectors. She brings expertise in strategy, innovation and evaluation.  

Madeline works part time for the Glasgow School of Art, as Head of Strategy in the Innovation School where she leads the development and delivery of a portfolio of programmes using design to build the innovative capacity of businesses, public sector organisations and communities. 

Madeline also sits on the Board of a number of triple helix collaborations including the Construction Scotland Innovation Centre and the Digital Health and Care Innovation Centre.

Reappointment

The reappointments will be for four years and will run from 1st April 2022 to 31st March 2026.

The reappointments are regulated by the Ethical Standards Commissioner.

Remuneration 

The reappointments are part-time and attract a remuneration of £8,842 per annum for a time commitment of one day per week.

Other ministerial appointments 

Irene Oldfather and Madeline Smith do 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.   

Irene Oldfather and Madeline Smith have had no political activity within the last five years. 

Background  

The Scottish Ambulance Service is a Special Health Board of NHSScotland. As the frontline of the NHS in Scotland, the Scottish Ambulance Service provides an emergency ambulance service to a population of over 5 million people serving all of the nation’s mainland and island communities. The Service covers the largest geographic area of any ambulance service in the UK and plays an integral part in the day to day operation of the NHS in Scotland and, increasingly, has been working with NHS Territorial Boards to help deliver new models of care and more effective care pathways.