East of England Ambulance Service chair Nicola Scrivings to leave role after three years

The chair of the East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust (EEAST) is to step down from the role after three years.

Nicola Scrivings joined EEAST - which covers Suffolk - in November 2019 after previous roles with a community services NHS trust, a Cambridge-based housing association and national roles with the Audit Commission and the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC).

As Chair, Ms Scrivings has overseen a period of improvement for the trust, which has been recognised by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and NHS England.

She has now decided to step down from the role but will continue in post until her replacement is recruited.

Ms Scrivings said: "It has been a great privilege and experience to travel alongside such dedicated ambulance crews and volunteers across the region. I know how hard everybody works to make sure that our patients receive the best possible care.

“We set ourselves a vision of ‘outstanding care, excellent people every hour every day’ and I truly believe we are heading in the right direction under the guidance of our chief executive and the board. I wish the new chair a successful future with EEAST.

“In the meantime, our board is very focussed on working with our partners to address current performance issues.”

This progress has been recognised by the CQC and NHS England with acknowledgement that the first phase of EEAST’s progress towards ‘good’ is drawing to a close.

EEAST now has a stable board with professional, committed members, with a range of combined talents to lead the trust to the next level, a spokesperson for the trust said.

Tom Abell, chief executive of EEAST, said: "Nicola has made an incredible contribution to our improvement as an organisation.

"I would like to thank her for her dedication and commitment to making our organisation a better place to work for our people and her passion to improve care for the communities we serve across the East of England.

"Finding the right successor will take a little time, and there is a plan for a staged transition to a new chair, aiming for appointment of a chair designate in May 2023.

"Until that time Nicola will continue to lead the board with pride and support the hard work of ambulance crews on the frontline, including our volunteers.”