North East Ambulance Service Chief Executive to retire in March after 42 years in NHS
by Owen Younger · ChronicleLiveThe North East Ambulance Service Chief Executive is set to retire in March after 42 years in the NHS.
Helen Ray began her career in 1983 when she trained as a nurse, and held a professional registration for 30 years.
She joined the North East Ambulance Service (NEAS) in 2019 from Northumbria Healthcare, where she had been the Chief Operating Officer since that post was formed in July 2018. There, she oversaw urgent and emergency care, medicine, child health and community services, and emergency planning and preparedness.
She had previously been joint Managing Executive Director for North Cumbria acute and community services, the Deputy Chief Executive for North Cumbria University Hospitals, and the Chief Operating Officer for South Tyneside NHS Foundation Trust.
Helen said: "I’ve had an amazing career, and it is a privilege to be ending my career as CEO of the North East Ambulance Service, having spent the past five years here.
"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."
During her time with the NEAS, Helen spearheaded investment to help improve the service for patients, led the service’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic across the region, and addressed scrutiny over issues of service quality and safety.
She continues: "I think the whole service is amazing, from patient transport and urgent and emergency care to all the functions of our emergency operations centre, emergency preparedness resilience and response team, right across all our amazing corporate support teams, our volunteers, students and governors. Both individual and collectively, they are what makes NEAS thrive.
"I know NEAS will continue to go from strength to strength and I will retain a sense of pride whenever I see one of the vehicles out and about safe in the knowledge that if my family need them, they will receive the very best care.
"The NHS is continuously changing and evolving, growing and learning, but at the heart of it is always the care of those who need our services and the passion of those who work within it. I am proud to have played a part in that."
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