Laura Skaife-Knight has been announced as the new substantive chief executive for NHS Orkney.
For the last three years, Laura has been deputy chief executive at The Queen Elizabeth Hospital King’s Lynn NHS Foundation Trust (QEH), where she lead the trust to be rated by the Care Quality Commission as ‘Good’ for the areas well-led, caring and effective.
NHS Orkney Board Chair, Meghan McEwen, commented: “Laura has a strong track record of getting results and delivering improvements to patient and staff experience, and is known for developing effective and trusted stakeholder and partner relationships at organisational and system level and locally, regionally and nationally.”
Prior to her time at QEH, Laura was director of communications and external relations at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust. Previous roles include senior communications and engagement positions at University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust and University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust.
Meghan McEwen, added: “Laura’s strength in communication and engagement will bring huge value to NHS Orkney as we continue to navigate our way out of Covid and recover our services to deliver high quality care to our community. I am looking forward to working with Laura to ensure our services are meeting the needs of our community. Laura’s knowledge, skill and track record of delivery around organisational cultural change and improvement as well as staff wellbeing and engagement will also help us ensure we are an organisation where staff feel seen, listened to, valued and supported.”
Chief Executive NHS Scotland, Caroline Lamb, welcomed Laura Skaife-Knight’s appointment, and said: “She brings a wealth of experience and excellent leadership to the role, and I know she will work to deliver the highest quality of care for the people of Orkney. I look forward to working with her when she takes up her role in April 2023.”
