South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Trust and South West Ambulance Service NHS Trust were both today authorised as foundation trusts (Tuesday, March 01 2011).
The move will give the Trusts greater autonomy from central Government and will give local people more of a say in how their local ambulance services are managed.
The final authorisations follow thorough assessments by the FT regulator Monitor and approval from the Secretary of State for Health, Andrew Lansley.
South East Coast Ambulance Service Chief Executive Paul Sutton said: “This new status is good news for local people across the South East as well as our staff who will now have even more say and greater involvement in shaping the future of our service. It provides us with the perfect platform to improve the quality of care we provide to local people at a much quicker pace.
South West Ambulance Service Chief Executive Ken Wenman said, “Achieving NHS Foundation status is a huge accomplishment. By focusing on quality and innovation we have been able to demonstrate our competencies to operate as an NHS Foundation Trust. Our employees are a credit to us and they deserve a huge amount of recognition.”
Click here to read the press release from South East Coast Ambulance Service.
Click here to read the press release from South West Ambulance Service.
