CEO steps down after ‘rollercoaster’ five years

The chief executive of an ambulance trust has announced her retirement in the second high-profile departure from the organisation in as many weeks.

Helen Ray will step down as North East Ambulance Service chief executive in March next year. She announced her departure a week after NEAS declared that Professor Stuart Corbridge would replace Peter Strachan as the trust’s chair.

Ms Ray joined NEAS in 2019 from Northumbria Healthcare, where she had been the chief operating officer. 

NEAS is a relatively high performing ambulance trust, and September saw it deliver the best response times for category one, three and four calls. It was the third best performer when it came to category two calls – which are seen as the toughest target to achieve.

This performance represents part of the organisation’s improvement from last year, when its overall CQC rating downgraded from “good” to ”requires improvement”. The watchdog conducted an announced inspection of the trust in September 2022, finding that patients were potentially put at risk because ambulance crews frequently responded to emergencies without access to life-saving drugs.

As a result, the trust’s CQC rating for emergency and urgent care fell from “good” to “inadequate”. However, it has since been returned to “good”.

In July 2023, the trust was also found to have withheld information from coroners by NHS England, and promised to review its procedures.

In a statement, Ms Ray said it was a “privilege” to be ending her career at the trust. She added: ”I won’t pretend it’s been easy, having spent the first two and a bit working through the pandemic and the last few recovering and resetting to help NEAS to move into a better place, for both the population we serve and all the people at NEAS who make this the most fantastic service – our colleagues, including our volunteers, governors and our students. It has been a rollercoaster, but I’ve enjoyed immensely.”

Mr Strachan said Ms Ray had led the trust through an “extremely challenging” period with “enormous integrity”.

“On behalf of the entire board, our colleagues and our communities, I’d like to thank her, both for her leadership and her NHS service as a whole – a career spanning 42 years of public service is a remarkable achievement and one for which she can be as deeply proud, as we are grateful,” he added.

Ms Ray had previously been joint managing executive director (operations) for North Cumbria acute and community services, deputy chief executive for North Cumbria University Hospitals and chief operating officer for South Tyneside Foundation Trust.