THE former chief of Ipswich Hospital is preparing to take up a new £140,000 role with the body deciding on the future of the region’s stroke care.

Andrew Reed, who left the Heath Road hospital trust in the summer, has been appointed area director for the East Anglia NHS Commissioning Board (EACB).

The former boss attracted criticism during his tenure following the loss of key services at Ipswich Hospital, including head and neck cancer, pancreatic cancer and urological cancer.

The board will on Monday take over as the regional health commissioner from the Strategic Health Authority, which has been abolished.

The EADT has learnt Mr Reed will be directly involved in deciding where to create hyper acute stroke units (HASUs) in Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridge.

It is understood three options will be considered for the future of emergency stroke care in Suffolk – one would see Ipswich Hospital and West Suffolk Hospital without hyper acute stroke units (HASUs). That could mean patients being taken by ambulance out of the county for emergency treatment.

The three options which an Expert External Advisory Group (EEAG) is expected to recommend to health bosses in Suffolk are:

n HASUs providing emergency treatment at Addenbrooke’s in Cambridge and Colchester, with acute services providing rehabilitation at Ipswich and West Suffolk in Bury St Edmunds;

n A HASU at Ipswich with acute services at Colchester and West Suffolk;

n And HASUs at Ipswich and Colchester hospitals with acute services at West Suffolk.

The first option would mean patients would have to travel to Addenbrooke’s or Colchester for emergency treatment before being transferred back to their local hospital for rehabilitation.

During his tenure Mr Reed witnessed the opening of the Garrett Anderson wing, as well as the successful bid to build a new specialist heart centre at the hospital.

But his time was also marked by services being lost and a damning Care Quality Commission report last year, criticising the hospital’s treatment of the elderly.

Debt issues led to the withdrawal of the hospital’s first bid for Foundation Trust status.

After a spell as a director responsible for changes to frontline services for the strategic health authority (SHA) NHS Midlands and East, he is now set for his new role.

The job, for which he will be paid around £140,000, will involve “direct commissioning of primary care in Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridge”, a spokesman for the SHA and EACB said. The spokesman added: “He has played no part in the ongoing stroke review to date. However, this is something that he will pick up in his new role.”

Mr Reed was unavailable for comment.