Scotland’s Chief Nursing Officer to step down

Scotland’s Chief Nursing Officer, Ros Moore, will step down from her role at the end of the year, it was announced yesterday.

Appointed to the role in 2009, Ros Moore has provided national professional, policy and organisational advice on nursing, midwifery and public health matters across the Scottish Government and NHSScotland.

She has led work on preventing Healthcare Associated Infections (HAI), which has seen a drop of 84.8% of C.Difficile in patients over 65 since 2007 – the lowest level since mandatory surveillance began.

As the Chief Nursing Officer, Ros Moore also established a review of nursing and midwifery education in Scotland which resulted in the Setting the Direction strategy.

Announcing her decision, Ros Moore said: “It’s been an privilege to be Scotland’s Chief Nursing Officer and to lead the remarkable people we have in our nursing, midwifery and allied health professions workforce across Scotland. Day in, day out, they care for people who are often facing the toughest of times, and I thank each and every one of them for their commitment and professionalism in delivering safe, effective and person centred care.

“Having begun my career specialising in caring for older people, I have taken especial pride in leading improvements to the care of people with dementia and their families in hospitals. I’ve been proud to lead the work of the Care, Support and Rights team, who are working on vital issues such as patients’ rights and participation, autism, carers and learning disabilities. The work on ‘Strengthening the Commitment’ has done much to raise the profile of learning disability nursing across the UK.

“Taking the decision to step down was a hard one, as I have really enjoyed the role, but the time is right for me to move on and for a new CNO to be in place to take forward the profession over the coming years.”

Paul Gray, Scottish Government Director General Health and Social Care and Chief Executive of NHSScotland, said: “I’d like to thank Ros for the significant contribution she has made to the nursing, midwifery and allied health professions in Scotland over the last four years, as well as the development and implementation of health policy in a range of areas. Ros has been an important member of the Health and Social Care Management Board and I greatly appreciate the perspective she has brought and the values she represents.”

The Chief Nursing Officer post will be filled through an open recruitment competition with further details available soon.