Introducing Fiona Wilson, East Lothian Health & Social Care’s Chief Officer
Having now spent my first few weeks in my new position as Chief Officer, I wanted to reach out of all East Lothian Health & Social Care colleagues, to say hello and formally introduce myself.
Background
I started my career as an Occupational Therapist, before moving into Service Manager roles; firstly in the Western General Hospital, then at the Edinburgh Health & Social Care Partnership where I had responsibility for both health and social care services including care at home, social work, district nursing and care homes.
In 2018, I was seconded to support the Chief Officer in Edinburgh HSCP in addressing the challenge of Delayed Discharge. In my time at Edinburgh, I secured funding and introduced a number of initiatives that support prevention of admission and early discharge promoting assessment in the individual’s own home.
Prior to moving to East Lothian, I was involved in a number of transformation programmes in West Lothian that looked to change service delivery focused on delivering person centred care, through different models of delivery.
Priorities for East Lothian
I’m really excited to be taking up this new and challenging role at such a critical time as we recover from the pandemic. I am keen to build on the good work already taking place transforming patient care and supporting the East Lothian community.
My passion has always been improving services in order to ensure people receive the treatment and care they need as close to home as possible, which is where they want to be.
Some of my personal key priorities are:
- To understand the East Lothian’s local communities and the people who live within them.
- To meet the multiple teams across the Partnership, understand the challenges we are facing, and together; develop strategies, pathways and action plans to overcome these obstacles.
- To familiarise myself with the strategic needs assessment projects currently underway, and from these initiatives, identify ways of enhancing our services to help improve the lives of the people that live within East Lothian’s communities.
- Develop relationships with the IJB, East Lothian Council, NHS Lothian and our wider stakeholder network to understand how we can support each other and deliver better outcomes for people across the county.
Meeting the Team
Over the coming weeks, I am eager to meet with colleagues wherever possible, across the service and the county. Teamwork and listening to people is incredibly important. I strongly believe these are the key elements to person centred care.
Together, I believe we can make a real difference to health, social care and wellbeing in East Lothian, and I can’t wait to get started.
I look forward to meeting you soon.
Best wishes
Fiona