New director for Health and Adult Services

A new director has been appointed to run North Yorkshire County Council’s Health and Adult Services.

Helen Taylor, currently the Acting Corporate Director for Adult Health and Wellbeing at the London borough of Tower Hamlets, will take over from Derek Law, (who retired on September 30), on October 10.

She will be in charge of a newly-created directorate responsible for adult social care and some health functions which will devolve to the county council as part of the proposed reforms of the National Health Service.

Before joining the staff of Tower Hamlets, Helen was the National Policy Lead on older people and social care at the Audit Commission.

County Councillor Clare Wood, Executive Member for Health and Adult Services said:

Helen joins North Yorkshire at a challenging time, but we know she is exactly the right person to pilot the service through the issues which lie ahead of us.

Helen Taylor commented:

Whilst Tower Hamlets and North Yorkshire couldn’t be more different geographically, both are excellent councils with top performing social care services. I have spent my 30 year career working in both the NHS and social services and believe passionately that closer working between the two sectors is what people want, improves outcomes and is more cost effective.

I look forward to working on joining up services in North Yorkshire and returning to live and work in a beautiful, rural area.