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MP welcomes Ambulance boss resignation

Therese Coffey Credit: ITV News

MP Therese Coffey has welcomed the decision form Maria Ball to step down as Chairman of the East of England Ambulance Service Trust.

The Suffolk Coastal MP said: “I welcome her decision and thank her for her 6 years of service. It is the right decision for her to step aside and is the next step to turning the performance of the service around.”

Ambulance Trust: Focus on improving service

The East of England Ambulance Trust has said chair Maria Ball has resigned.

The Trust says its focus is now solely on improving the service to patients and better support our staff.

Vice-chair Paul Remington said: "We are developing a transformational plan, details of which will be published next week. This will involve recruiting many more front line staff, better managing sickness absence, clearer career pathways and a renewed focus on patient handover delays."

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Ambulance boss resigns with immediate effect

Maria Ball Credit: East of England Ambulance Trust

Paul Remington vice chair of the East of England Ambulance trust thanks Ms Ball for her hard work.

He said: “Maria spent many years leading the ambulance service and I would like to thank her for her dedication and commitment through what have been some challenging times.

"Maria oversaw the formation of this Trust, bringing together three disparate organisations into one service, and its subsequent development."

Visiting restricted as Norovirus spreads

Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital Credit: ITV News Anglia

The Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital has announced its restricting visitor access following an increase in the Novovirus.

The infection is the most common cause of vomiting and diarrhoea in the UK, affecting 600,000 to one million people every year.

Dr Ngozi Elumogo Director of Infection Prevention and control says "Norovirus is a highly infectious virus which is circulating in the community at this time.

Our inpatients are particularly vulnerable and to limit the spread within the hospital we are asking visitors to restrict their visiting to close family members and not to visit more than one ward or to bring in children aged under 12 years. "

Parent's campaign for Indie

A two year old girl from Chelmsford faces a "lifetime on dialysis" because the NHS won't fund the drug she needs to treat an extremely rare blood condition.

The family of Indie Smith are faced with a bill of a £250,000 a year to keep their daughter on the drug called Eculizumab.

It is currently being paid for as part of a clinical trial. That funding runs out later this year, but it's not yet available on the NHS.

In a statement today the Department of Health said: "We need to make sure NHS resources are being used wisely. That's why we have asked the NationaI Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence to further explore Eculizumab's suitability for national commissioning."

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MP calls for change of management at Trust

The East of England Ambulance Trust has failed part of their latest Care Quality Commission inspection.

Now MPs say the trust now have a week to come up with an action plan to improve ambulance response times.

Suffolk Coastal MP Therese Coffey says the Chair of the Trust Maria Ball must consider her position.

Trust fails to meet response times in Norfolk and Suffolk

Ambulance service failed key standard Credit: ITV News

The East of England Ambulance Trust has failed part of their latest Care Quality Commission inspection.

The Trust passed on 4 out of 5 measures , but the CQC say the ambulance service failed on meeting the necessary standard for care and welfare of people who use the service

The CQC say response times have deteriorated since the previous inspection and in the East " people could not be assure they would receive care in a timely and effective manner".

The report also says there continues to be a "significant inequity of service between rural and urban areas" of our region in ambulance response times.

They say the response times are particularly poor in Norfolk and though " the trust achieved its response times in places like Luton and Peterborough it regularly failed to meet them in Norfolk and Suffolk ".

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