Ex-Royal Mail director named chair of troubled trust

Nicola Scrivings, currently chair at Cambridgeshire Community Services Trust, will succeed East of England Ambulance Service Trust’s interim chair Nigel Beverley, who took over from Sarah Boulton in July.

The trust has had substantial senior turnover, with chief executive Robert Morton stepping down in September last year, followed by chief operating officer Kevin Brown earlier this year.

The current interim chief executive is Dorothy Hosein. A trust statement said: “One of the first tasks of the new chair will be to appoint a permanent chief executive officer.”

The trust has struggled with quality and performance standards for several years. Pressure intensified in January 2018 when a senior whistleblower made accusations that significant ambulance delays had led to patient harm and deaths, and of a lack of senior leadership.

In the summer, it was rated “requires improvement” overall by the Care Quality Commission, but “inadequate” in the well-led category.

Ms Scrivings – who will start next month – worked for the Royal Mail for more than 20 years, in sales, marketing and operational management. She has also held several director level roles including, from 2009 until 2013, regional operations director for Anglia, and is currently group chair of Cambridge Housing Society.

The trust statement added: “This new appointment comes at an important time for the trust as we launch our consultation on our new corporate strategy, which sets out an ambitious and exciting vision for improvement over the next five years for providing safe, high quality patient care.”

Ms Scrivings said: “I will make it my priority to spend time out and about, hearing directly from staff and volunteers on their thoughts on the challenges and priorities facing the trust.”