Britons irate at NZ job for former boss

By MONIQUE DEVEREUX

A former English ambulance boss, who retired for medical reasons just before the release of a damning Government inquiry into his embattled service, now heads part of New Zealand's St John Ambulance.

And that has angered Tony Blaber's former colleagues and ambulance officials in England.

They say it is unfair that Mr Blaber was able to collect a golden handshake on the grounds that he was too sick to work, only to start a similar job months later on the other side of the world.

Mr Blaber has been chief executive of the Northern Region South Island, which covers the top half of the South Island, since October 1999.

James Wood, national chief executive officer of the New Zealand Order of St John, said Mr Blaber was doing an exceptional job.

Mr Wood said he knew of Mr Blaber's work with the East Anglian Ambulance Trust, but if there was anything untoward with his involvement or his decision to leave, the ambulance board would have heard about it.

His earlier health problems might well have been resolved during the break between leaving England and beginning work in New Zealand.

Mr Wood would not comment on the seriousness of Mr Blaber's health problems.

Mr Blaber is on leave until Monday and did not return messages left by the Weekend Herald on his cellphone.

He retired from the East Anglian trust in March 1999, days before the results of a Government inquiry were released.

The inquiry began after East Anglian ambulances continually failed to get to emergencies within the required response time, and several patients died.

Ambulance staff passed a vote of no confidence in the trust management.

Then-Health Secretary Frank Dobson criticised the trust in his report, calling the failure to get to emergencies "unacceptable and unforgivable."

He said poor management was one of the reasons for the trust's failings.

Mr Blaber received an undisclosed amount in medical severance pay and pension.

Newspaper reports in England called his departure sudden and were unable to say what the ill health was that forced him to leave so quickly, although they reported this week that he needed a kidney transplant.

The Evening Star newspaper in Ipswich reported that Mr Blaber would have been paid until the end of his contract, and money would also have been paid into a pension fund for his retirement on medical grounds.

He would have had to submit medical evidence from his doctor to claim such a retirement.

But John Toomey, regional ambulance officer for Unison -the English equivalent of the PSA union - said that although Mr Blaber's payout was legitimate, it "seems wrong in that he was responsible more than most for the problems within the ambulance service."