Chief Executive Fortnightly Blog to NHS Orkney Staff – 22 April 2025

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Message for All NHSO Staff 

Morning everyone

I hope those who have had a break over the last week or so have enjoyed your downtime, and to those who have been working, including over the Public Holiday weekend – thank you.

I want to start this week with a number of positives as a reminder that we are making progress and to celebrate our many achievements.

  1. Many congratulations to Laura Van Schayk for winning the Rising Star Award and to Lily Corse for being a finalist in the Healthcare Science Support Worker of the Year category in this year’s Scottish Government’s Chief Scientific Officer’s Awards. This national recognition for Laura and Lily, who both work in our Clinical Laboratory Service, is an incredible achievement.
  2. NHS Orkney has had two posters accepted to showcase at the NHS Scotland Event 2025 on 9 June which is another incredible achievement. Many congratulations to Gina McMahon, Realistic Medicine Lead, for presenting her poster: Shared Decision Making with Orkney’s Young People: ‘It’s Ok to Ask’ , for her innovative work with school nurses on using the realistic medicine OK to ask questions and principles in schools and to Chloe Crawford, NPD Contract Administrator, for submitting the poster abstract ‘Green and Clean: NHS Orkney’s Path to a Sustainable Future’ for our innovative work on sustainability and net zero.
  3. Thanks to the efforts from staff across the organisation, we have achieved our financial plan, £4m savings plan and recurrent savings requirement – which is an outstanding achievement and shows what we can do when we work together and respond collectively to our challenges. With this, thanks to the hard work of our nursing community, we have reduced our spend on nurse agency staff by £1.4m over the last year. Well done to all of our nurse leaders for making this happen, including through international recruitment which is good news for our patients.
  4. Last week we had our latest Extended Senior Leadership Team meeting which was attended by circa 40 of our most senior leaders from across the organisation. We discussed a number of important strategic developments and updates, including: our Year 2 Corporate Strategy priorities, Clinical Services Review, our Improving Together (efficiency) programme for 2025/26 and we shared and exchanged views on the draft proposals for our leadership development programme and plans for a new education and improvement hub. This meeting was an important step forward, with much constructive challenge and welcome open and honest conversations, aligned to our values. Thank you to everyone who joined the session. If you’d like to join the next session, please contact Debs Crohn.
  5. And finally – many congratulations once again to Anne Gregg, Macmillan Specialist Nurse, and Amanda Manson, Cardiology Specialist Nurse, who have been named finalists in this year’s Royal College of Nursing Scotland Nurse of the Year Awards. Amanda has been nominated for the Adult Nursing Award and Anne has been nominated for the People’s Choice Award. What an achievement for both of these colleagues to receive this further national recognition – recognising there is no higher praise.

Have a great week everyone.

Best wishes

Laura Skaife-Knight

CEO