On the rounds

PEOPLE

THREE new non-executive members have been appointed to the board of NHS Lothian. The three appointees, who will each serve for four years, are: Moi Ali, vice president of the Nursing and Midwifery Council; Professor Morag Prowse, the dean of the faculty of health, life and social sciences at Napier University; and George Walker, global head of business development at Standard Life Investments.

MURRAY Duncanson – a former chief executive of NHS trusts in Lothian, London and Essex – has been appointed to the board of NHS Education for Scotland, the health service's training organisation. He is due to serve for four years.

ELSPETH Roy retired on Thursday after 42 years with the NHS. She worked as a clerical officer at both the Dundee Royal Infirmary and Ninewells Hospital.

LIZ Jordan, a healthcare assistant at the gynaecology outpatients department of women and child health in Ninewells Hospital, Dundee, retired on Friday after nearly 31 years of service. She had previously worked in the wards and theatres in both Dundee Royal Infirmary and Ninewells Hospital.

NEWS

THE Golden Jubilee National Hospital in Clydebank has formally completed its orthopaedic expansion programme. The hospital has opened two new "ultra clean laminar flow" theatres, doubling the number available. It is expected the hospital will now be able to carry out an extra 1,000 major joint-replacement operations and around 750 minor procedures each year.

THE Scottish Government has accepted the outline business case for the redevelopment of Chalmers Hospital in Banff. It has asked NHS Grampian to proceed with a full business case for the 14 million project. The plan includes a new-build health centre and a 30-bed in-patient ward.

PUPILS from Crieff High School have given works of art to display at the NHS Tayside Kings Centre in the town. They were invited to provide work by the South Perthshire Community Mental Health Team, which is based at the centre.

PUPILS at Forfar Academy last week presented a cheque for 600 to the Clova Ward and Strathmore Hospice at Whitehills Health and Community Care Centre in Forfar. The money was raised during the school's annual sponsored walk around Forfar Loch in September.

JIM McGough from Cumnock has made a "generous donation" to East Ayrshire Community Hospital's Holmburn Ward. Staff have used his donation to buy two grandmother clocks, two televisions, eight pressure-relieving chairs and some soft furnishings for the ward. McGough donated the cash to say thank you to staff for caring for his mother.

NHS Tayside has named the three shortlisted bidders for the 100 million mental health developments project to provide inpatient accommodation at Murray Royal Hospital in Perth and at Stracathro Hospital in Angus. The three companies shortlisted are: Canmore (as Tayside Mental Health); John Laing/Laing O'Rourke; and the Robertson Group (as Taycare). The bidders will now submit designs for the new facilities. The successful bidder is expected to start work in autumn 2009.

THE Scottish Spina Bifida Association has been chosen as the official charity for the 2008 Irn-Bru Scottish Curry Awards. The awards will be presented in Glasgow on 13 March, including prizes for takeaway of the year and curry king or queen 2008. Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay, patron of the Scottish Spina Bifida Association, says: "The association is a worthwhile charity and I have seen firsthand the incredible work that the family support service carries out to help families across Scotland affected by spina bifida and hydrocephalus."

EVENT

EAST Ayrshire Community Health Partnership's public partnership forum is hosting an information day for residents who would like to know more about local healthcare services. The information day is on 12 February at Stewarton Academy in Kilmarnock, from 9am until 4pm.