Introducing…Dr. Sokhomoy Das
Each month you can learn more about the people behind East Ayrshire Health and Social Care Partnership and its Integration Joint Board (IJB).
Find out what staff and board members enjoy most about their role and how they spend their spare time!
This month we’re ‘Introducing’…
Dr. Sokhomoy Das, IJB Member
Sokhomoy joined our Integration Joint Board in March 2020, right at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Here, he tells us about life as a medical professional, his role as a whistleblowing champion and his involvement in our IJB…
I am Dr. Sukhomoy Das and I am dual qualified in Medicine and Law. I was appointed as a non-executive Director of NHS Ayrshire and Arran Board in 2020 by the Cabinet secretary, Jeane Freeman MSP.
As you will appreciate, it was not easy for me to settle in the new role during the peak of the global pandemic as I was also having to deal with the challenges as a frontline doctor in Dundee at the time.
I am currently working at Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, Glasgow, and am also the Whistleblowing Champion for NHS Ayrshire and Arran. I was therefore responsible for overseeing the implementation of the new ‘Standards’ on whistleblowing within the NHS and pan-Ayrshire Health and Social Care Partnerships in anticipation of the Independent National Whistleblowing Officer going live the following year.
I have a special interest in whistleblowing in our public bodies and, as some of you may know, I was instrumental in bringing about these new measures in the NHS in Scotland after becoming the only direct contributor from NHS Scotland to the Freedom to Speak Up review by Sir Robert Francis QC in 2014-2015.
I was nominated by the NHS as a voting member of the East Ayrshire IJB from the start of my role. After a short period as Interim Chair I became the Chair this year. It should not come as a big surprise that a doctor who previously worked and has been living in East Ayrshire for more than two decades took an interest in our Health and Social Care Partnership.
Preventative and social medicine was a subject which formed an essential curriculum during my medical education in the 1980s in India (West Bengal). However, the curriculum failed to equip us to face the challenges of the politico-socio-economic environment within which those concepts (or models) operate and deliver.
Nevertheless, I had an interest in developing an understanding of the bigger picture while working in the NHS across the length and breadth of Scotland since 1996. I also bring diversity and a different perspective to the NHS Board and the East Ayrshire IJB.
It is a privilege to work with my colleagues in the IJB who are passionate in making a difference to people’s lives and experiences through their tireless work and leadership. It has always been important for me to work within a team that shares the common purpose of long-term strategic planning with a focus on transformation, sustainability, best value for money, equity and fairness and shaping our services whilst reflecting on and including the important voices of our community.
Thanks for chatting with us Sokhomoy!
Don’t miss next month’s ‘Introducing’ segment!
