South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust chief executive Will Hancock will step down after 17 years

The announcement, from South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust’s chief executive Will Hancock, has been made to ensure that the trust has enough time to find his replacement.

In a message to the staff he said: ‘It has been an honour and privilege to lead this amazing organisation and I am extremely grateful for all the support I had had from you and so many other incredible colleagues.’

In 2006, Mr Hancock guided the merger of four ambulance services to create Scas, which achieved foundation trust status in 2012.

During this time, the expansion of SCAS has resulted in the service now operating across six counties, helping over 6m people and employing more than 4,000 staff

The organisation attends more than 555,000 incidents via 999 and makes 866,000 patient transport service journeys a year.

SCAS has also now become a key partner in the UK Health Security Agency after leading the National Pandemic Service which included the Covid Response and vaccination booking.

Mr Hancock leads on mental health, well-being, diversity and inclusion in the ambulance services across the country and has conducted research into suicide prevention and wellbeing of the staff.

He said: ‘I will of course continue to support you all in my role as CEO through this coming winter.

‘In the meantime, there is much for us to focus on within the organisation as we continue to try to overcome the challenges exacerbated by the pandemic and the sustained levels of pressure seen across the trust.’