Essex: Ambulance chief to retire (From Braintree and Witham Times)

Essex: Ambulance chief to retire

5:22pm Monday 8th October 2012 in News

The head of the region's ambulance service is retiring after five years in the job.

Hayden Newton, who has been chief executive of the East of England Ambulance Trust (EEAST) since May 2007, has announced he will be retiring within the next six months.

Mr Newton, who has been working within the NHS for more than 30 years, handed in his notice to the EEAST board on October 1.

EEAST chairman Maria Ball said: "Hayden will be greatly missed within the Trust and wider ambulance family - we are all very sad that he is leaving.

"I have personally known Hayden for more than 12 years and I continue to admire his energy, integrity, commitment and absolute passion for ambulance services.”

She continued: "Hayden has been an excellent chief executive and under his leadership the Trust has made real progress.

"With Hayden's support, we will now start the process to find his replacement - he will be a hard act to follow."

Mr Newton said: “EEAST is a great place to work. We have outstanding staff who work hard to deliver the best possible service to our patients who call us when they are in their greatest need.

"Now I am nearing my retirement age, I think the time is right to pass the baton onto a new chief executive whilst I look for a new focus in my life.”

The current chief executive will depart his role once a replacement can be recruited.

Mr Newton began his career in the ambulance service more than 30 years ago and went on to train to become a paramedic.

He worked for a number of ambulance services, taking up posts such as director of operations for the Scottish Ambulance Service and then becoming the chief executive of Kent Ambulance Service.

He also worked at the Department of Health within the ambulance policy team, where he oversaw the introduction of the toughest ambulance response time standards in the world.

Mr Newton also managed a number of high profile major incidents. He was the NHS operational lead for the response to both the Hatfield and Potters Bar rail crashes. 

Within the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives, Mr Newton is currently the national lead for emergency 999 operations, a role in which he helped deliver the ambulance service framework for this summer's Olympics and Paralympics.