North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust Chief Executive announces his retirement
Wednesday, 04 March, 2009
It has been announced today, that North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust Chief Executive, John Burnside, has decided to retire from his role later this year.
John became Chief Executive of the North West Ambulance Service on 1 July 2006, following the merger of the four legacy ambulance trusts across the region. He has enjoyed a long and distinguished career in senior management, beginning in 1975 when John joined the NHS graduate management training scheme.
Throughout his career, John has made a significant contribution to the urgent and emergency care agenda. A highly successful and experienced NHS Chief Executive for 19 years, John was the first Chief Ambulance Officer in the United Kingdom from a non-ambulance background and the only Chief Executive to lead four Ambulance NHS Trusts - namely Cleveland, Kent, Greater Manchester and now the North West.
Elected as the founder Chairman of the Ambulance Service Network within the NHS Confederation and the Ambulance Chief Executive national lead for Commissioning, as well as Equality and Diversity, John was also the founding President of the British Association of Public Communities Officers (BAPCO).
John Burnside, explained, "This decision has been made for personal reasons. I had always planned to retire at the age of 60 which would have occurred some months after the Trust's planned date for achieving Foundation Trust (FT) status. Having reflected upon this over recent months, I concluded that it would be more appropriate from both an organisational and a personal perspective, to retire at this stage, in order to allow sufficient time for a new Chief Executive Officer to be appointed to take NWAS forward into FT status and to deliver its medium term plans."
Mary Whyham, NWAS Chairman, praised John's contribution, "John has made no secret of his desire to retire at 60 and I respect his decision. Everyone that John has worked with, both within and outside the Trust recognises in particular, the tremendous work that he undertook during the merger of four ambulance trusts to become NWAS, which is now the largest and busiest ambulance service in the country.
"John has shown great leadership and vision, and is highly respected by managers and staff within the Trust and also nationally by other ambulance trusts and the wider healthcare network. I am extremely grateful for the commitment and dedication he has shown to the ambulance service, regionally and nationally. His significant contribution has placed NWAS in a strong position to move forward with its modernisation agenda. Together with my Trust Board colleagues, I wish John every success in his future endeavours. He will be greatly missed."
Mike Farrar, Chief Executive, NHS North West said, "I would like to thank John for his commitment to the NHS over his long and distinguished career. He will be a loss to the North West although his legacy in the Ambulance Trust will be to leave a strong, continually improving organisation".
