BREAKING NEWS: East of England Ambulance Service boss resigns

The chief executive of the East of England Ambulance Service is to stand down from the role.

Robert Morton's decision was announced in a statement released this evening.

He said: "While I feel privileged to be the chief executive of EEAST my future plans mean I cannot commit to a further three years. I feel this is the right time to hand over to someone else.

"I wish to record my thanks to our Trust Chair, and my board and executive colleagues for their unwavering support and commitment over the last three years. I also want to thank staff for their care, compassion and commitment to our patients and to supporting each other."

The organisation has endured some turbulent times in recent months, including allegations that patients had been harmed by delays in responding to emergency calls.

But trust chairman Sarah Boulton said she was "sad" at Mr Morton's decision and praised his record in the role.

She said: "For three years, he has successfully secured long-lasting changes on behalf of patients and staff. Together, we have found a talented and steadfast board to lead a wider team to deliver those improvements.

"The biggest achievement of the board he built was to secure a six-year contract with our commissioners. This means we can recruit more staff over the next three years, and increase the numbers of ambulances we have on the roads. As a result, we expect to see improvements in performance, particularly in the least densely populated areas of the east of England such as Norfolk and Suffolk.

"Robert’s legacy is a great one. He has had the vision and compassion to get us into a great place, and our highly skilled board members will continue on their course to leading EEAST to becoming a high-performing trust."