The HSCP Primary Care Manager will be responsible for overseeing primary care health services and ensuring the continued delivery of high quality primary care healthcare services including General Practice (GP), dental, community treatment services and immunisation. This vital senior leadership role will include coordinating with healthcare professionals and providers, managing resources and implementing policies to continuously improve services. The Primary Care Manager will work closely with medical professionals, nurses and administrative staff to optimise operational efficiency, improve patient-centred preventive care and address primary care challenges.
Fiona Duff said: “I am honoured to take up the role of interim head of primary care and look forward to working collaboratively and closely with all primary care services, particularly general practice and dental services, to maintain the existing high standards of service provided to communities across Argyll and Bute.”
Fiona has been in general practice since beginning her career as Practice Manager at Huntly Health Centre in rural Aberdeenshire in 1990. She then moved to Nairn where she was Fundholding Manager before returning to Practice Management at Culloden Surgery in Inverness.
From 2001 to 2016 she was Primary Care Manager for NHS Highland North. She led the work on quality and Scottish patient safety across the Highlands, and the GP assessment programme for North Highlands. Her responsibilities included all GMS contracting, finance, extended services and sustainability issues relating to general practices in Caithness and Sutherland, as well as oversight and management of three 2C practices run by the Health Board. From 2016 to 2024 she was Senior Professional Management Adviser to the Scottish Government Primary Care Department. In that role she provided support and advice in a range of areas relating to general practice and primary care, with a strong interest and focus on rural general practices, and chaired the Scottish Pharmacy Practice Group. In that role she supported and advocated for the role and development of practice managers and administrative staff, and led work related to access to and public understanding of general practice.
Welcoming Fiona’s appointment, Evan Beswick, interim chief executive of Argyll and Bute, said: “I am delighted with Fiona’s appointment and will make a great contribution to the management of our primary care service, bringing with her a wealth of management knowledge and specialist experience.”
