On the rounds

PEOPLEJEANE Freeman has been appointed as a non-executive member to the board of the NHS National Waiting Times Centre, which is responsible for the Golden Jubilee National Hospital in Clydebank and the Beardmore Hotel and Conference Centre. She will serve until 2011.

Freeman, a senior consultant in public policy and government, set up Apex Scotland, a criminal justice employment organisation, in 1987 and was its chief executive for 12 years. She was also a special adviser to the First Minister until 2005 and is also a member of the Parole Board for Scotland.

SHEENA Macdonald, a technical instructor with the physiotherapy service in Perth and Kinross, is retiring after 17 years working with NHS Tayside. She began her career as a physiotherapy helper at Hillside Hospital in Dundee Road, Perth, before moving to the paediatric service at Perth Royal Infirmary ten years ago.

NEWS

BUCKIE couple Kaye and Nicky Simpson donated almost 8,000 to the renal units at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary and Edinburgh’s Royal Infirmary. Kaye had a transplant in Edinburgh in 2005. Fundraising included a raffle at their wedding and a charity dance at the Royal British Legion, in Buckie. Gamekeeper Sandy Cruickshank, of Cullen Estate, pitched in with a charity clay pigeon shooting day, while Nicky’s brother raffled off football shirts at his pub, The Harbour Bar, in Buckie. Chloe Grant, Kaye’s 11-year-old niece, also took part in a 5km fun-run dressed as Santa, organised by Jog Scotland.

A BLAIRGOWRIE couple presented the haematology day unit at Perth Royal Infirmary with a cheque for 300. Ian and Pat McGregor raised the money at Dorothy Dobson’s over-60s exercise class in Newtyle and donated the money to the unit, as Ian has been a patient there for eight years.

DENTISTS are being warned to check their X-ray machines more regularly. The Health and Safety Executive is monitoring dental practices, says Dental Innovation, a firm specialising in integrated equipment for dentists. Craig Leaver, of Dental Innovation, says: “Dental practices should have their x-ray equipment checked at least once a year to ensure it is set-up correctly and not posing any potential danger to staff or patients”.

EVENT

QUEEN Margaret University (QMU) is holding a Question Time-style symposium on 26 February. The topic is “Delivering health: who cares and whose responsibility is it anyway?”.

Panelists include: Susan Deacon, professor of social change at QMU; Sir Tom Farmer, QMU’s chancellor; Paul Martin, chief nurse for Scotland; Margo MacDonald, independent MSP for the Lothians; Gregor Townsend, former Scottish rugby player; and Eleanor Bradford, BBC Scotland’s health correspondent. It will be chaired by Professor Marie Donaghy, dean of QMU’s school of health sciences. Free tickets are available from Eleanor Swift on 0131-474 0000 or