Rob Kay graduated from Sheffield University in 1975. After 4 years rough travelling and working round the Pacific rim, and 2 years back in the UK working as an NHS nursing auxiliary, he studied public health management as an NHS management trainee at Manchester Business School.
Appalled by witnessing the poor conditions in large NHS long-stay institutions, Rob worked as a community care specialist, firstly in Salford as Unit Administrator for learning disability services, and later with SE Thames region as deputy coordinator of the Darenth Park hospital closure programme in Kent.
Moving to Scotland in 1991 as strategic planning manager for Ayrshire and Arran health board, Rob enjoyed a career working as a service development manager in the NHS, Social Work, and the Charity sector in Scotland, retiring from full time work in 2006 to care for his son, Jordan, who has Down's Syndrome, Autism and Diabetes Type 1. Jordan was the first young person in North Lanarkshire to benefit from the In-Control pilot.
Rob is currently employed part-time as a social researcher with ScotCen, interviewing people the length and breadth of Scotland, and gaining unique insight into the concerns and circumstances of ordinary families and individuals.
He is a former Secretary of Kilsyth Community Council and co-founder of the Kilsyth International Carnival, which ran from 2003 to 2010.
Rob is a family man with three grown-up children and a rather scruffy collie, and currently serves as Chair of Carers Link in East Dunbartonshire and as General Secretary of the Electric Boat Association. His other interests include worldwide travel, cave exploration, the performing arts and birdwatching.
