Vicki joined NHS Ayrshire & Arran in 2001 as a Modern Apprentice in Administration and has developed her career across health and social care, taking a wide range of opportunities for professional and personal development.
Vicki has undertaken various leadership roles across NHS Ayrshire & Arran and East Ayrshire Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP). These include roles with the Medical Director’s Team, Mental Health Services, and as Corporate Business Manager to the NHS Chairman and Chief Executive. Vicki moved across to Primary Care to take up the role of Strategic Programme Manager for Primary Care Transformation in 2018.
In 2020, Vicki was appointed as Head of Primary and Urgent Care Services across Ayrshire and Arran, working with the professional leadership and senior management teams of East, North and South Ayrshire HSCPs. This included operational responsibility for the delivery of all contracted and managed services across primary and urgent care, including dentistry and emergency dentistry.
Vicki has been instrumental in leading the collaborative reform of general practice across Ayrshire, and through this work has influenced the vision and policy for primary care nationally. With a focus on person-centred care, she has worked across the health and care system initiating, leading and co-ordinating many large scale change management programmes with multiple stakeholders and professional groups. This has included the re-design of specialty pathways and services to improve patient experience and simplify the patient journey across the care boundaries of primary, secondary and community services.
Following the introduction of the national Redesign of Urgent Care Pathway, NHS Ayrshire & Arran became a pathfinder Board. Vicki has led the development of the pathfinder work for the Board and ensured this work has fully aligned to the work of the national unscheduled care team and national service providers, including NHS 24 and Scottish Ambulance Service. It was through this work that the Ayrshire Urgent Care Service (AUCS) has extended community care pathways managed through a single point of contact that enables direct access to care in the community, including care homes, Ambulance Service, mental health and community teams. This model of care has since been noted as a best practice model of care and is being adopted by other Boards across Scotland.
Vicki is passionate about leading the delivery of high-quality care in the right place for our population. Vicki will bring a strong system network and broad experience of system leadership to the Acute Care Leadership team.