25 July 2007 - Appointment of a non-executive director to the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service Health and Social Care Trust

The Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety today announced that the Minister, Michael McGimpsey, has appointed Professor Mary Hanratty as a non-executive director of the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service Health and Social Care Trust. The appointment, for a term of four years, will take effect from 1 August 2007.

NOTES TO EDITORS:

1. The overall aim of the NIAS HSC Trust is to manage ambulance, patient transport and communication services provided from ambulance control centres throughout Northern Ireland.
2. The Trust is run by a board consisting of a non-executive Chair, five non-executive directors and five executive directors.
3. A non-executive director of the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service HSC Trust receives annual remuneration of £5,508.
4. Appointments to the NIAS HSC Trust are made with the approval of the Minister for Health, Social Services and Public Safety. There are no specific qualifications for appointment. Each person is appointed to act in a personal capacity and not to represent any particular interest or group.
5. The appointment was made in accordance with the Code of Practice issued by the Commissioner for Public Appointments for Northern Ireland. A selection panel, which included an independent assessor, as required under the Commissioner’s Code, considered the suitability of all candidates. The final decision on the appointment rested with the Minister.
6. All appointments are made on merit and political activity plays no part in the selection process. However, in accordance with the original Nolan recommendations, there is a requirement for the political activity of appointees (if any declared) to be published. Professor Hanratty declared she had not engaged in any political activity in the last five years.

Appointment

Professor Mary Bridget Hanratty CBE MA RGN lives in Dungannon. Until November 2006, Prof Hanratty was Director of Nurse & Midwifery Education at the Beeches Management Centre, Belfast. Prior to this, she was Director of Nurse Education at both the Eastern and Southern Colleges of Nursing. Prof Hanratty is currently a board member of the Middletown Centre for Autism, Armagh, for which she receives £160 per day and expenses. She is currently a member of the Nursing and Midwifery Council’s Fitness to Practice panel and was formerly Vice President of the UK Central Council for Nurses and of the Nursing and Midwifery Council. She has not engaged in any political activity in the last five years.

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