Commenting on the news that Alan Murray will be leaving his post as Chief Executive of the Welsh Ambulance Trust on 31st March, the Welsh Liberal Democrat Health Spokesperson, Peter Black said;

“When he took up post, Alan Murray inherited a poorly performing Ambulance Trust that was lurching from crisis to crisis. He brought stability and leadership to that organisation and worked hard to improve its performance. That the Ambulance Trust is doing much better is down to his efforts.

“Whoever succeeds him however has a job of work to do. The ambulance service is still not meeting its targets on a consistent basis. In rural and South East Wales its performance remains unacceptable whilst there are still problems with accident and emergency services and a shortage of acute hospital beds that are delaying ambulances from getting to patients in need.

“Alan Murray’s successor needs to have the full backing of the Minister and in particular a commitment from her to implement a recent efficiency review that found that service is underfunded to the tune of £5m a year and that delays off-loading patients at A&E departments is costing as much as £2m a year.”