Garry Coutts has been chair of NHS Highland since 2004. He was recently appointed Rector of the University of the Highlands and Islands in November 2010. He believes that fully integrating health and social services under single management and budgets can improve care. Garry Coutts is passionate about using strategic commissioning to involve stakeholders in service planning across the public sector.

1. “LEADING CHANGE FOR THE FUTURE”<br />Supporting People to Self-Manage<br />Tuesday 14 June 2011<br />Centre for Health Science, Inverness, IV2 3JH <br />Chair Profile<br />Garry CouttsBiography: Garry Coutts has been chair of NHS Highland since 2004. Prior to this he was an elected councillor and chaired the Highland Council's Housing and Social Work Committee.<br />He was recently appointed Rector of the University of the Highlands and Islands in November 2010. <br />He is also the Convener of the Scottish Social Services Council which regulates social work and social care staff and supports their professional development. In this capacity he also sits on the board of the Social Care and Social Work Improvement Service which has recently taken over the responsibilities of the Care Commission and the Social Work Inspection Agency.<br />Garry is heavily involved in the development of the proposal for the integration of health and social services for adults under the management of the Board and the integration of children's health and social services under the management of the council. Having been involved in partnership working for many years he believes that we need to move to single budgets, single management and fully integrated teams to make the real difference to the care people receive. <br />Garry is also a member of the Looked After Children's Strategic Implementation Group and chairs their working group on Strategic Commissioning. He is a passionate believer that the strategic commissioning framework offers a great opportunity for all stakeholders to be involved in service planning and design. This approach, he believes, has the potential of becoming the way we do business not just in children's services but across the public sector.<br />Garry lives in Beauly with his family. <br />