A FORMER NHS chief has been made the new Lord Lieutenant of Dunbartonshire – but her new job is on the back burner for now as she helps lead Scotland’s fight in the coronavirus pandemic.

Jill Young is the first female, and first non-military, holder of the office – and is Her Majesty the Queen’s senior representative in the area.

Mrs Young worked in the NHS for 40 years, working her way up from an auxiliary nurse to chief executive of the Golden Jubilee Foundation, a role from which she retired in 2018.

But only a month after retiring, she returned as chair of the foundation’s operational performance board – and in the past year she has been playing a vital role in Scotland’s fight against Covid-19.

Mrs Young explained: “My plan was to retire two or three years ago. Therefore, I could step up and ultimately, if I was accepted by Her Majesty, be the Lord Lieutenant.

“However, when I took my retirement from the Golden Jubilee with the intent of focusing on the lieutenancy, the NHS was dealing with Covid.

READ MORE: The Queen has a new representative in Helensburgh

“I got a phone call last March asking if I could design, build and open up the Louisa Jordan Hospital, and within 24 hours I was down there.

“I’ve never really left since.”

Upon her arrival at Louisa Jordan, she led a team to deliver a 1,000 bed Covid hospital with full operational facilities in just over two weeks.

A month later, Mrs Young was also asked to lead Scotland’s testing programme, which saw test capacity rise from 250 per day to almost 40,000 per day, and in December, she took on the role of running a mass vaccination programme at Louisa Jordan which demanded her full attention.

But her new role as Lord Lieutenant - replacing Michael Gregory, who retired in December - remains a priority, with a goal to connect the community on her mind.

“With my NHS role, I am really busy because of the vaccination programme, but the lieutenancy side has been quiet as face-to-face interaction and community events have quite rightly stopped,” she said.

“So, in a way it has allowed me to balance both and thankfully I have an excellent team of deputy lieutenants to help.

“I was so honoured and privileged to be asked.”

Among Mrs Young’s team is Helensburgh resident Linda Moffat, who, as reported in the Advertiser recently, has been made Vice Lord-Lieutenant.

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