Former NHS chief among Ayrshire New Year honours

Community stalwarts awarded titles on King Charles’ 2026 list

- PAUL BEHAN

Four people from the Ayrshire community have been named in the King’s New Year Honours list.

John Burns, Wilma Milligan, Mary Murray and Jan Blackwood McCulloch Haynes have all been named as recipients in His Majesty's New Year Honours.

Former chief executive at NHS Ayrshire & Arran, John Burns, the now chief operating officer at NHS Scotland, becomes an OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire), for services to the NHS in Scotland.

Burns has been Chief Operating Officer for NHS Scotland since July 2021. Prior to this he was the Chief Executive of NHS Ayrshire & Arran for nine years.

He has worked in several roles across NHS Scotland over the last 38 years, working in Tayside, Glasgow, Dumfries and Galloway and Ayrshire & Arran. The last 20 years have all been in chief executive roles.