91Èȱ¬

NHS Tayside's new chairman has quit to concentrate on his academic career less than a month after taking up the role.

Prof Nic Beech, who was also vice-principal of Dundee University, was appointed by Scotland's health secretary Jeane Freeman in October.

Ms Freeman said Lorna Birse-Stewart has been appointed as an interim chairwoman of the troubled health board.

Prof Beech expressed his "regret", but said he had been offered "a role which represents a career ambition".

The professor will take up his new role as vice-chancellor of Middlesex University in February.

He had been a non-executive member of the board since 2018.

Mrs Birse-Stewart, the board's current vice-chair, has been on the board of NHS Tayside since last year.

The health board was put in "special measures" by the government in 2018, with both its chairman and chief executive replaced.

NHS Tayside was one of a number of Scottish health boards to have its debts written off after receiving millions of pounds of government loans, known as brokerage.

Earlier this year, NHS Tayside was criticised for offering lower doses of chemotherapy for breast cancer patients than in the rest of Scotland.

A subsequent report said it was "highly unlikely" that variations in chemotherapy dosages were to blame for the deaths of 14 Tayside breast cancer patients.