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NHS 24 in “very good state of health” |
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Monday, 03 November 2008 |
Exclusive
By Katie Mackintosh
NHS 24 is a “much more confident organisation” that is in a “very good state of health to go forwards,” according to its new chief executive John Turner.
In his first interview since taking up the post, Turner told
Holyrood that NHS 24 said he has been struck by how much progress the
organisation has made.
He said: “I was generally aware that NHS 24 has made a lot of good
improvements in the past couple of years but what I’ve been struck by
since coming in is just how much progress has been made and how really
very committed and dedicated the staff are to serving the patients.”
One key change, he said, is that the service is now a fully accepted member of the NHS Scotland family.
“A few years ago NHS 24 was perhaps not fully accepted as a member of
the NHS Scotland family. It is now and it works very well day in day
out with key services such as the ambulance service and the health
board out-of-hours service. That is one area where there is evidence of
huge improvement.”
While he admitted that past criticisms of the service will no doubt
stay with long-serving members of staff for a long time, he said the
organisation’s “emerging or new reputation is actually based on the
quality of the NHS service that we offer.”
As a result he said there is “no doubt in my mind that it is a much
more confident organisation,” adding: “The staff are proud of what they
do and that is the basis for our feeling confident, yes, but it is
actually the pride in what we do and the knowledge that we do a good
job and we ought to develop that.”
Turner took up the post of NHS 24 chief executive on September 1. He was previously acting chief executive of NHS Western Isles.
For full interview, see page 50
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