NHS Forth Valley chief executive Cathie Cowan to retire

Cathie Cowan had been in charge of NHS Forth Valley since 2017

The chief executive of heavily-criticised NHS Forth Valley has announced she plans to retire.

Cathie Cowan has been in charge of the health board since 2017.

The Scottish government has had "oversight" of NHS Forth Valley since November last year in a bid to tackle problems with out-of-hours services and unscheduled care.

The board later apologised after a report highlighted serious issues and concerns at its flagship hospital.

In a statement Ms Cowan said that despite the challenges the health board had faced, the assurance board set up by the Scottish government had provided feedback that it was now better placed to make progress on its improvement plan.

"There is no doubt that there is still much more to do," she said.

"As work is taken forward to plan for the medium to longer term, now is the right time to hand over the baton to someone who can build on this work and continue to drive forward sustainable improvements."

There have been problems with problems with out-of-hours services and unscheduled care at Forth Valley Royal Hospital in Larbert

The Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) report previously noted "limited improvement and in some cases a deterioration" in safe delivery of care at Forth Valley Royal Hospital in Larbert since April.

It saw some patients waiting 25 hours for transfer to a ward, and "unsafe practice around medicines governance".

NHS Forth Valley said last December that the report recognised the "extreme pressures" being experienced across the hospital.

In a statement on Tuesday, the health board said: "After five years of leading NHS Forth Valley, Cathie Cowan, chief executive, confirmed today that she plans to retire. Arrangements will now be made to recruit her successor in due course."

Ms Cowan was previously chief executive of NHS Orkney.

"The last few years have been incredibly challenging but also very rewarding," she said.

"As staff, primary care colleagues and partners pulled together to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic, manage the subsequent recovery of local services and take forward a wide range of changes and improvements in response to the more recent stage 4 escalation.

"Much has been achieved during this time."