East: Ambulance Service Gets New Directors

15 July 2013, 15:19 | Updated: 15 July 2013, 15:23

Two interim Non-Executive Directors have been appointed to the board of the East of England Ambulance Service. It's after all the others quit the trust in June - following months of criticism over poor response times and failing leadership.

Sheila Childerhouse and Frances Pennell-Buck are the new board members.

Dr Geoff Harris, interim chair of the Trust said: "I am delighted that we have been able to appoint two hugely experienced and successful non-executive directors. The skills and experience both Sheila and Frances bring will help continue to drive the service forward as we maintain a relentless focus on improving services to patients."

East of England Ambulance

Sheila Childerhouse has served for various local and regional health bodies since 1984 in non-executive and chair roles, including interim chair of The Queen Elizabeth Hospital King's Lynn NHS Trust in 2005 and chair of the national NHS Confederation Rural Sub Group from 2004 to 2012.

Recently she was chair of NHS Norfolk and Waveney and deputy chair of the East of England Development Agency.

Frances Pennell-Buck has also held a number of non-executive roles within the NHS.

Recently Frances was deputy chair of NHS North East London and the City, and chair of NHS Outer North East London.

The Ambulance Service has told Heart, "Their support and expertise will enable the Trust Board to continue to lead the organisation and to drive through performance improvements."

They added, "The Trust is making good progress with the campaign to recruit additional substantive non-executive directors. Interviews are scheduled for the late summer and appointments may be made in early autumn."