The East of England Ambulance Service Trust is set to appoint a new chief executive after its interim boss stepped down.

Dr Anthony Marsh – who took on the role in December 2013 before his departure last week – will remain as chief executive of the West Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust, a role that he had previously combined.

A new chief executive is set to be appointed imminently, but deputy Sandy Brown will take over the role in the meantime.

A trust spokesman said: “We are in the process of recruiting a new chief executive.

“The final interviews have been completed and we are in the process of agreeing final terms and arrangements for an appointment.

“We will make an announcement when this appointment can be confirmed, but we are aiming to have the new chief executive in post in August.”

UNISON branch secretary Fraser Stevenson, who met Dr Marsh in early 2014, said: “Gradually Dr Marsh and myself built a sound working relationship.

“Although we didn’t agree on everything, we had an honest, trust-based relationship which enabled us together to bring in many supportive changes for staff.++

“We still have a significant way to go to change culture in our NHS trust and with instability at board level, our Put back the Heart Campaign is needed more than ever.

“Staff are at the heart of our NHS trust and we need a genuinely staff-focussed chief executive who will continue to work with us to support and empower staff to improve working conditions, which is vital to addressing retention issues.

“We need a chief executive with vision, that’s brave enough to continue the work started and not be content with making sure we’re in the middle of the pack.

“Some staff have already expressed their fears over the news that Dr Marsh is no longer in the NHS trust, but I assure you we are far from alone.

“We have a very strong membership in UNISON, which has grown by many hundreds of members over the past 15 months.

“This is our NHS trust and we’ll keep moving it in the right direction together.”