Julie Garbutt told Health workers yesterday that after ‘much consideration’ she would not be applying for the role of director general for Health and Community Services.
Her announcement comes after senior States executives were told last month that their jobs would soon cease to exist and that they would have to reapply for new roles at the top of the civil service as part of a massive restructuring programme.
Under the programme, drawn up by States chief executive Charlie Parker, new ‘director generals’ will replace chief officers as heads of drastically restructured States departments.
Mrs Garbutt became chief officer at a time when the department was facing the largest cuts in generations, as well as dealing with the aftermath of reports which found failings in management and poor procedures at the Hospital. In a message sent out to staff yesterday outlining her reasons for stepping down, Mrs Garbutt said that after ‘a significant period’ in her current post she had been developing plans to retire on her 60th birthday. Because of entitlement to leave, she will depart within weeks to help support her parents, who live in the UK, she added. ‘The new director general will be a key part of Charlie Parker’s senior leadership team and he has set out an ambitious modernisation plan which requires a three-to five-year commitment to the post that I feel unable to make,’ she said. The message adds: ‘I will be leaving my post in early September. As a result of annual leave and special leave kindly granted by the CEO to enable me to support mum and dad’s move into residential and dementia care, my final day in the office will be 16 July.’
A States spokeswoman said: ‘A process has already begun to put interim arrangements in place while a permanent successor is recruited.’
