Email: ged.blezard@aace.org.uk
Ged Blezard has over 37 years’ experience of working in the ambulance sector. He joined the former Greater Manchester Ambulance Service in 1986 as an Ambulance Care Assistant on the Patient Transport Service, then quickly progressed within clinical roles including Paramedic, Work Based Trainer and Assessor before moving into a number of operational management roles.
For the last seven years Ged undertook the Executive Director of Operations role with the North West Ambulance Service (NWAS), where he was a Board member. This role was responsible for the operational delivery of 999, 111, PTS, Contact Centre functions and Resilience service lines. He retired from his director role with NWAS in September 2023.
Ged has a proven record of delivery, having led on numerous successful large-scale projects and change management programmes. He delivered the NWAS operational response to the Covid-19 Pandemic, a wholesale operational roster review for the entire Trust engaging with external agencies, staff groups and trade unions. Ged was also an integral part of the Trust’s response to the Manchester Arena Inquiry, where he was the Accountable Emergency Officer.
Most recently through his leadership he ensured NWAS delivered its Urgent and Emergency Care recovery plan which delivered a sustained performance improvement. Alongside that he was responsible for the oversight of the transition to NHS Pathways so the trust had one single primary triage platform across it’s service lines. He has also implemented a management re-structure to align services to the new Integrated Care Board landscape.
He is an accomplished well rounded executive operational leader who can perform at the highest levels across a broad spectrum of challenges.
