Chief executive Gerry Marr has announced his retirement from NHS Tayside after a career spanning more than 40 years in healthcare. Caroline Lindsay found out more about the man.
Social work’s loss was definitely the NHS’s gain. When Gerry was 18 he wanted to study social work at university but was too young so he filled in the time by working as a nursing assistant in a hospital. “That was it I was hooked,” he says. Going on to work in mental health, he then did further training in acute nursing before switching back to psychiatry.
In the early eighties he decided to broaden his career prospects by moving to the US for several years, working in acute medicine, and finding himself being promoted to senior nurse during his stay.
Working in American hospitals was quite different from British ones. He explains: “The nurses there aren’t nearly so hands-on the approach is more academic and scientific. But they love British nurses and seeing our care at the bedside in action.”
As with any job, nursing has its lighter moments, although, says Gerry, most of them are unprintable. However, he does recall one funny anecdote from his time in the US.
“One elderly couple were particularly grateful and asked to see me. They thanked me for my care and for taking the trouble to learn the language!”
Gerry has seen huge changes at every level in healthcare over his career.
“We now have a health service that is so much more accessible. We used to have waiting lists of more than two years for hip operations and now we have a legal requirement to ensure they’re carried out within 12 weeks or less.
“We have hugely advanced technical services which, across the board, have seen fantastic changes in patients’ survival rates.
“I’d like to think I’m leaving behind a very successful healthcare system; in a recent review, NHS Tayside came out as one of the best in the country and that’s a great tribute.”
Gerry feels the challenges facing his successor are three-fold.
“Undoubtedly, the advancing demographic profile means that there are a huge number of elderly people coming into the system.
“Secondly, there’s the increasing challenge of keeping up with new technology it is wonderful and saves so many lives but it is expensive.
“Lastly, in this region, ill-health associated with inequalities is a serious issue that will continue to need to be addressed,” he explains.
His long, distinguished career has brought him many challenges over the years but there are several stand-out moments.
“When I was a young charge nurse I worked in a small hospital for children with profound learning disabilities, who had no right to any kind of education. I helped establish respite care and family support and that made a tremendous difference to the children and their families.”
Gerry spent four years working in government as the director of HR for the Scottish Health Services. “I established partnership working as a new form of industrial relations and I’m proud of that it was very different from patient care but it was a tough nut to crack.
“But most of all, I’m very proud of my journey in Tayside. The biggest challenge we faced when I came in 2001 was restoring public confidence in how local health services were run. Over the past decade I have been privileged to work with dedicated and skilled individuals and teams who are ensuring that we are constantly focused on making patient experiences better. I am incredibly proud of all that NHS Tayside has achieved but even prouder that, thanks to the dedication of staff at all levels, the people of Tayside have health services they can have confidence in.”
Gerry and his wife Carrie are moving to Sydney in Australia, where Carrie will take up an appointment as an executive director with the local health district.
Although Gerry, who turns 60 in February, doesn’t officially retire until the end of November he admits that he is already feeling quite emotional at the thought of leaving.
“I will miss the people I work with, and the area, so it will be real wrench saying goodbye. I’ll also miss being at the centre of continuing to transform healthcare. I do a lot of work teaching in patient safety and the science of improvement and I hope to carry on doing that in Sydney.
“I’ve been blessed in my career I’ve enjoyed every aspect of what we do. We are renowned the world over and Tayside staff are being recognised by health organisations and hospitals all over the world as experts at improving care for patients.”