Rayleigh and Wickford MP Mark Francois recently held a meeting at his Westminster office with Mr Robert Morton, the Chief Executive of the East of England Ambulance Trust (EEAST) and Mr Karl Edwards the Deputy Director for Service Delivery, who has operational responsibility for the Trust in Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex.
During the meeting Mark pressed the Trust bosses on their ability to meet target response times, particularly in rural parts of Essex and also enquired about the Trust’s plans to buy additional ambulances and recruit further medics, in order to increase their capacity to deal with emergencies.
Mark was pleased to hear during the meeting that the Trust’s budget will be increasing by somewhere around £11 million this year, rising to an additional £26 million next year, in order to help provide for more ambulances and staff. After a troubled time for the Trust over the last few years it is hoped that this significant new money will help improve the Trust’s performance across the board.
Speaking after the meeting, Mark Francois said:
“I was pleased to be able to have a frank discussion with Robert Morton and Karl Edwards of EEAST, in order to try and convey to them some of the frustrations experienced by some of my constituents in dealing with the Trust in the last few years. Ambulance personnel work extremely hard but there is no doubt that they have been hard pressed for the last few years and so it was very encouraging to hear that additional money and reinforcements are on the way. I will continue to remain in touch with the Trust’s management going forward and I look forward to meeting Mr Morton’s successor, when he retires as the Trust’s Chief Executive later this year.”