A new organisation, the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives (AACE), has been formally established and launched in the UK.
The AACE now represents the chief executives of all eleven NHS ambulance trusts (and all twelve services including the Isle of Wight), as well as those affiliated ambulance services operating in the devolved administrations and Crown dependencies.
The new organisation is envisaged as a critical point of contact with partner agencies, in particular the Department of Health and other emergency services at a national level. It provides NHS ambulance services with a platform for the co-ordination, management and implementation of key national programmes which are crucial to the ongoing development and improvement of the ambulance service. It will build on the work previously undertaken by the former Ambulance Chief Executive’s Group (ACEG).
Great Western Ambulance Service Director of Operations Steve West was appointed as Managing Director of the AACE in September. (Postscript: Mr West subsequently left the AACE in April 2012). He said:
“These are challenging times for ambulance services and it has become increasingly apparent that we need a properly resourced, central organisation that has the ability to co-ordinate national strategy for the ambulance service at the highest levels. Therefore I am delighted that we have been able to establish the AACE, at a time when the focus of ambulance services is firmly on performance – but without reducing the high quality of care we deliver to our patients. The AACE will help individual ambulance services to work more closely together in a joined up way, to ensure greater efficiency and a more effective national ambulance service.
The creation of the AACE is about establishing a highly visible organisation that is able to link effectively with other national bodies to develop policy and progress national work programmes in an effective and efficient way”.
For further information contact Carl Rees
