THE chairman of the region's ambulance service has resigned.

Dr Geoff Harris announced his decision today.

He was appointed chairman of the East of England Ambulance Service last May.

Chief executive Anthony Marsh said: "Geoff joined the trust at the most challenging period of its history and has worked incredibly hard to both stabilise and reinvigorate the board, providing strong leadership and expertise to progress improvements.

“We will be working with the NHS Trust Development Authority to start the process for appointing a new chair immediately."

Mr Harris was appointed when the trust was being heavily criticised for letting down patients, with poor response times.

Several board members, including previous chairman Maria Ball, stood down.

Mr Harris said: "I have immensely enjoyed working at the ambulance service with such dedicated staff.

"I was asked to rebuild the board and leadership when I took on this interim role in May and I feel having recruited a new non executive team and one of the most experienced ambulance chief executives in the country it is the right time to bring in a new chair.

"Over the last year the trust has made many improvements."