A YORK health chief has been selected as the Labour Party candidate for Selby and Ainsty for next year’s General Election.

Doctor Mark Hayes is the chief clinical officer for health commissioning in the Vale of York, and has lived in North Yorkshire for almost 30 years.

Dr Hayes spent more than a decade working as a GP in Tadcaster, and was a founding member of the Selby Primary Care Group in 1998, later becoming chairman in 2000.

In his time as chief clinical officer for the NHS Vale of York Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), he has overseen changes which turned the £3.5m debt inherited from the organisation’s former incarnation -–the Northern Yorkshire and York Primary Care Trust (PCT) – into a £2m surplus.

Dr Hayes said: “My interests in improving the local community are intrinsically linked to health and well-being and this has been a driving force in my desire to stand as a local candidate. My aim is to influence improvements in health and care services on a local and national scale.

“I am proud to have been selected to contest Selby and Ainsty for Labour at the next election and I will be working hard in the constituency. Nevertheless, I remain committed to delivering world-class health and care commissioning in the Vale of York.”

Dr Hayes will continue in his role as chief clinical officer, and said he would work with health and care providers, local government and other stakeholders in the CCG for the benefit of the community.