Baroness Ilora Finlay takes over as National Council for Palliative Care’s new Chair of Trustees

Date: 
1 October 2015
Baroness Ilora Finlay has now officially started as the National Council for Palliative Care’s new Chair of Trustees, having been announced as Chair-elect in April.

Baroness Finlay of Llandaff is an internationally renowned expert in palliative medicine and an independent cross-bench member of the House of Lords. She has taken over from Professor Mayur Lakhani, a practising GP and former Chair of the Royal College of GPs, who has been NCPC’s Chair since 2008, having served a full two terms.

Baroness Finlay was President of the British Medical Association 2014-15 and a past president of the Royal Society of Medicine. She was a general practitioner in inner-city Glasgow before returning to Cardiff to work full time in palliative medicine. She was the first consultant in Palliative Medicine in Wales in 1987, has developed palliative and hospice services across Wales and chaired the Palliative Care Strategy Implementation Board for Wales. She has also been an active independent crossbench peer in the House of Lords since her appointment in 2001. 

Baroness Ilora Finlay said:

I am delighted to have taken on this important role at the National Council for Palliative Care, a charity that I have long respected. We have exciting and ambitious plans for the future and I look forward to working with those in NCPC and our partners across health and social care to take on an increasingly important role to influence and ensure the provision of high quality end of life care for all.

With many challenges ahead in health and social care, and a continued need to support people to talk more openly about end of life issues, the work of NCPC is needed more than ever.

Welcoming the appointment, Claire Henry, Chief Executive of the National Council for Palliative Care said:

 We are incredibly excited to welcome Baroness Finlay as our Chair of Trustees. Her knowledge, experience and unwavering commitment to transforming how we care for and support dying people make her the ideal person to lead our Board. 

 I also wanted to take this opportunity to thank and pay tribute to Professor Mayur Lakhani for the outstanding contribution he has made as NCPC’s Chair.”

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