The Department of Health and Social Care has a new boss.

Career civil servant Karen Malone has been appointed as chief executive officer on a permanent basis.

In July 2019 she was appointed as deputy chief executive in DHSC, and from January 9 has been acting as interim chief executive.

The job was offered with a £111,000 salary.

Lawrie Hooper MHK, Minister for Health and Social Care, said: ’We received a number of excellent applications for this pivotal role, and we feel Karen is the right person to provide inspirational and quality leadership for the department moving forward.’

’In the wake of Covid-19, the creation of Manx Care and the redesigned DHSC there are some real opportunities to modernise and improve the health and social care services on our island, but these changes will come with some huge challenges.

’I am looking forward to continuing to work with Karen, whose dedication, experience and attitude has been a genuine asset to the department so far.’

Mrs Malone said: I am committed to inspire colleagues to help drive the department forward supporting changes necessary for a more sustainable health and care service. I look forward to the diverse challenges from modernising our legislation to working with our assurance and inspection team as well as supporting Manx Care in their delivery of health and social care services in our community.’

Mrs Malone has more than 24 years of on-island public sector experience, having worked for a number of public bodies including the former Manx Electricity Authority and Manx National Heritage in compliance and corporate services roles where she has specialised in financial and project management, before becoming the programme director for Treasury in 2017 - focusing on change and corporate cost improvement initiatives.

Mrs Malone will take up her role with immediate effect.

Mrs Malone replaces Kathryn Magson, who was appointed in January 2020 to oversee the transition of the island’s healthcare services to Manx Care.

Her job was meant to last only two years and she left it in January.

The department has undergone a turbulent time in the last few years, with a review undertaken by Sir Jonathan Michael in 2019.

He highlighted a dearth of data on quality, performance and costs and a culture of mediocrity.

On the eve of the publication of that report, the DHSC’s then chief executive Dr Malcolm Couch and his deputy Michaela Morris left their roles.