Highland Council Leader welcomes new NHS Highland Chief Executive to her first Joint Monitoring Committee

The Leader of Highland Council, Cllr Margaret Davidson, welcomed the new Chief Executive of NHS Highland, Pamela Dudek to her first meeting of the Joint Monitoring Committee (JMC) today.

The JMC is the governance committee for the Highland Health and Social Care Partnership and is attended by officers from both the Highland Council and NHS Highland.

Board Members and Councillors from both organisations attend together with Third Sector partners with an involvement in the delivery of integrated children’s services and adult care services, who have an important role to play.

Cllr Davidson formally welcomed Pamela Dudek, Chief Executive of NHS Highland saying: "We look forward to working with Pamela and her team at NHS Highland and to build further still on our excellent working relationship that has grown and strengthened during the pandemic."

At today's meeting, the Committee was updated by officers on the terms of the partnership arrangements in place and the review of those arrangements.

Information was also provided in relation to a Project Management Board which has been established, which will oversee the future delivery of Adult Social Care and integrated Children’s Services.

Part of the new board's responsibility is to ensure the efficient delivery of service for services users and will be committed to achieving the best possible outcomes for the population of the Highlands.

Highland Council's Chair of the Health, Social Care and Wellbeing Committee and newly appointed co-chair of JMC, Cllr Linda Munro, said: “Joint working and strong partnerships have never been more important to the sustainability and wellbeing of Highland communities and through the Project Management Board and JMC we have real opportunity to progress at pace the delivery of essential services with our Third Sector and NHS Partners.”

Professor Boyd Robertson, Chair of NHS Highland, said: “I very much look forward to working alongside Pam as we build on the strong partnership and working relationship that we have with our colleagues at the Highland Council. Working together we will ensure that we can deliver to the communities that we serve.”