The formation of a new leadership team for the Department of Health and Social Care is almost complete with a number of vacancies now having been filled.
Minister for Health and Social Care, Howard Quayle MHK, said:
'When I became Minister the number one priority was to put in place a robust management structure. This was to ensure that we had the capability and talent to develop the Island’s health and social care systems, with a focus on joining up care.
'Finding a Chief Executive was the first part of this task, with Mark Charters taking up that role in July after an extensive recruitment process. Mark quickly set about shaping a new management structure with clear lines of accountability as well as enhancing dedicated and centralised support for the teams who deliver our health and social care services.
'I have been impressed with the quality of people we have been able to attract both locally and from off-Island. We have a talented team who, together, can take our services forward and develop and transform them for the benefit of everyone on our Island.'
Some of the appointments, in addition to Mark Charters as Chief Executive, are as follows:
- Michaela Morris joined as Executive Director for Health on 1 September
- Cath Hayhow became Executive Director for Social Care and Housing on 6 October
- Dr Jugnu Mahajan joined as Medical Director for the Isle of Man on 1 November
- Linda Radcliffe became Chief Nurse for the Isle of Man on 17 November
- Dr Iain Kewley became Director of Primary Care on 24 November.
Commenting on the formation of the new senior team, Mr Charters said:
'Having a team of individuals with the talent, skills, passion and vision to transform our services is vital if we are to succeed. Without this, change simply will not happen. We need a radical new approach in how we deliver health and social care in the Isle of Man. We will have to redesign our services to integrate what have historically been three very distinct systems – community health care, hospital health care, and social services – breaking down barriers in the process. I am confident that we now have the team to make this happen.
'An outcome from this change in approach will be to ensure that patients and service users can move seamlessly between health and social care services, which hasn’t always been the case.
'Together we are working to develop a new strategy for how we can take our health and social care services forward not just in the short and medium term, but also in the long term to address the challenges of growing demand in an environment of increasingly finite resources.'
