Former chief nursing officer Fiona McQueen joins drugs death taskforce
- Published
Prof McQueen stepped down from her role as chief nursing officer in 2021 after six years in the job
Scotland's former chief nursing officer has been appointed vice-chairwoman of the national drugs death taskforce.
Prof Fiona McQueen joins a team headed by David Strang, who was named chairman last week.
Prof McQueen became well-known to the public after regularly joining the first minister at her daily Covid briefings during the pandemic.
Drugs policy minister Angela Constance said she would bring "wide experience across many clinical areas".
Ms Constance added that Prof McQueen "played a key part in helping to shape Scotland's early response to the pandemic".
"I am sure the knowledge she brings with her will be of huge benefit as we shape our response to Scotland's other public health emergency," she said.
Prof McQueen stepped down from her role as chief nursing officer in 2021 after six years in the job.
She is also a former executive nurse director at NHS Lanarkshire and NHS Ayrshire & Arran.
Prof McQueen said she was looking forward to learning about the progress that the taskforce has already made "and building upon that in the development of the final recommendations".
She added: "This work is critical in changing peoples' lives when they are at their most vulnerable and I am privileged to have been invited to be part of it."
David Strang, a former chief constable of the then Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary, was appointed taskforce chairman last week to replace Prof Catriona Matheson.
Prof Matheson had resigned saying she was not prepared to do a "rushed job" on the taskforce's final report.
Drug deaths in Scotland reached a record high of 1,339 in 2020 and early figures for last year suggest there was only a slight decrease.
It is by far the highest drug death rate recorded by any country in Europe and is more than three-and-a-half times that of England and Wales.