Former council leader in NHS job bid

FORMER city council leader Keith Geddes is standing for election again, this time to Fife Health Board.

Mr Geddes, who quit the council in 1999, is one of 61 candidates fighting for 12 places as the first directly elected members of an NHS board in Scotland.

The pilot scheme will involve a postal ballot, with the result due on 10 June.

Mr Geddes, who has lived in Dunfermline for more than two years, said he had always believed in democratically elected health boards.

He said his platform for the election would be targeting resources on front line services, finding creative ways of doing things differently and working with other agencies.

He said: "I live in Fife and I want to make a contribution to the community."

Mr Geddes was Labour leader of Lothian Regional Council for six years and of Edinburgh City Council for a further three years before stepping down to stand for the Scottish Parliament.

He was number one on the party's top-up list for the South of Scotland at the first Scottish Parliament elections, but narrowly failed to get elected and is now a public policy analyst with PR consultant Pagoda.