THE Hunter arm of NSW Ambulance will lose its newly appointed boss, Chief Superintendent Jordan Emery, at the end of January, as the service's revolving-door of senior managers continues.
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Less than 18 months after he stepped into the position of Deputy Director of Clinical Operations with a mandate to effect change in the Hunter, Chief Superintendent Emery is leaving.
NSW Ambulance remained tight lipped about the move this week, but it's understood Superintendent Emery has accepted a promotion in Tasmania.
A Hunter paramedic said the service would be "rudderless again" after two of the region's most senior NSW Ambulance managers, husband and wife team Robert and Kerry Akester, resigned from their positions in May last year.
The Akesters were followed by a group of other senior managers, as NSW Ambulance advanced its plans for sweeping cultural change in the Hunter amid a series of internal investigations.
Superintendent Emery's position oversees about 600 staff across 45 stations from Lake Macquarie to the northwest of the state.
His departure comes as NSW Ambulance faces the growing storm of Covid-19 infections across the Hunter, placing further strain on the service.
Responding in November to a high-profile court case involving a junior Hunter paramedic being repeatedly sexually harassed by Merriwa station manager John Doepel, a NSW Ambulance spokesman acknowledged there were issues in the Hunter that the service was working to address.
"New leadership was sent to the Hunter region with a clear mandate to effect cultural change and NSW Ambulance is well-advanced in addressing those issues and a number of reviews have been completed," he said.
When Superintendent Emery started in the Hunter's top job last year, he told the Newcastle Herald he planned to review how the service ran and addressed "workplace grievances".
At the time of his appointment, Superintendent Emery had been working with NSW Ambulance for 12 years, representing young blood in a senior management position at 32-years-old.
"It's no secret there have been significant cultural challenges in Hunter New England - that's been reflected in staff surveys and that's been reflected in people's experience," he said.
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