A senior director of the troubled ambulance trust that provides services in Kent has left his role with immediate effect.

The South East Coast Ambulance Trust - SECamb - which has been in special measures since last September - confirmed the departure of its medical director Rory McCrea in a statement today.

He had been in the role since July 2015 and worked two days a week.

He replaced the then interim medical director David Fluck, who was appointed to the role in April 2015 but left three months later.

The news comes just days after the trust announced the appointment of a new chief executive.

Daren Mochrie, who has almost 30 years' experience of working in the NHS in Scotland and is currently the director of service delivery for the Scottish Ambulance Service, will replace the current chief executive Geraint Davies.

He has not yet started in the role.

The trust said: “The Trust can confirm that with immediate effect, Medical Director Rory McCrea has stepped down from his role with the Trust.

“The Trust can confirm that with immediate effect, Medical Director Rory McCrea has stepped down from his role with the Trust" - statement from the Trust

"Rory, who provided medical oversight at the Trust two days per week, took the decision to step down for personal reasons and in the light of the Trust's need to continue to focus over the coming 12 months on delivering its recovery plan.”

“We would like to thank Rory for his expertise and commitment during a difficult period for the Trust. The Trust will announce Dr McCrea’s replacement in due course.”

At the same time, the trust also confirmed the departure of non-executive director Dr Katrina Herren, who has decided to step down for personal reasons.

The trust was rated inadequate by the Care Quality Commission last September. Among criticisms made by inspectors was that it was failing to meet response time targets and was the country’s worst-performing trust for answering emergency calls.

It has also been under the spotlight for a practice transferring thousands of NHS 111 calls to the 999 emergency system to give staff up to 10 minutes more time to respond to the call.