A CHIEF executive has been appointed for the new merged ambulance service that comes into operation on April 1 in Wiltshire, Avon and Gloucestershire.

The Great Western Ambulance Service is the first merged ambulance service in the country.

The merger comes at a time when Wiltshire is operating below the national average.

Tim Lynch, currently chief executive of the Cumbria Ambulance Service NHS Trust, has been appointed chief executive of the new service.

His start date is still uncertain but is expected to be within the next few months.

In a newsletter to staff he wrote: "The region has a rich heritage of providing high quality pre-hospital care to its communities and I look forward to working with you in continuing to make a real difference for patients and staff."

Transition chief executive Philip Selwood was unable to apply for the chief executive post because he was not an existing substantive chief executive. More merged ambulance services are expected to follow the Great Western as the Government continues its health reforms. Health bosses say the merger locally will save £1.6 million a year as a reduction of management costs.

The Great Western Ambulance Service be based at the Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire Strategic Health Authority's headquarters at Jenner House, Chippenham.

Meanwhile Louis Victory, the chairman of Avon Ambulance Service, has withdrawn his application for the post of chairman of the Great Western Ambulance Service saying he is ashamed of the merger.

Mr Victory says the new trust faces millions of pounds of deficit in its first year. The Strategic Health Authority says it will save £1.6 million a year in bureaucracy.

Mr Victory said: "I thought that the service could get even better if there was a merger into a bigger organisation and I supported all the improvement promises made by the SHA during the public consultation.

"I now know from a meeting chaired by the SHA and from work within our own trust that these public promises cannot be kept.

"Even worse there is discussion about having to lose more than 50 jobs at a time when ambulance response time targets are sometimes already not being met. I now feel ashamed that I was persuaded to support this merger."

A statement from the SHA said: "Creation of the new trust will mean that patients benefit from a faster more responsive service that is more flexible than the three current organisations."

n WENDY Hall of Wanborough has been appointed a non-executive director to the interim board of the Great Western Ambulance Service NHS Trust.