Wishing you all a very merry Christmas: a message from Robert Morton (24th December)

As I write this, I note that it’s four months to the day since I took up my post as Chief Executive here at EEAST. Part of me wonders where the time has gone, with the other part feeling like I must have been here for longer. It’s been a busy 16 weeks! This week, I have had the opportunity to meet and chat with colleagues in Halstead and Clacton on Sea about what the future will hopefully hold for EEAST.

There’s no doubt that 2015 has been a busy year for all of us. At close of play on Sunday (18^th) we’d taken more than 905,000 calls since the start of the year, and away from our patient-facing services our support staff, non-emergency teams and our volunteers have had an equally busy 12-months.

But Christmas is a time for family, and I hope that all of you get the chance to spend some time with your loved ones over the next few days; working in a 24/7 service, many of you will be ‘on shift’ tomorrow to help, in whatever your role, to keep people of the East of England safe. On behalf of us here at the Trust, and the public – a very heartfelt thank you. I am immensely proud of what you, my colleagues, do and achieve every single day.

With this in mind, I want to take a brief moment to pay tribute to all of those managers whom over the holiday season, will be busier than usual, working a lot of additional hours, supporting our Bronze, Silver and Gold Command arrangements. This work is sometimes unseen and unappreciated, but it is this effort that ensures our services are well managed and crises often avoided. Thank you all for what you do throughout the year but especially over the festive season.

Of course next year will be challenging, busy and full-on (as they all are), but today, I’d just like to wish you and your families’ a very happy, safe and peaceful Christmas.

With best wishes to you all,

Robert