A new chairman has been appointed by East Coast Community Healthcare (ECCH) to lead the social enterprise.

Tony Osmanski, a former strategic director at Waveney and Suffolk Coastal District Councils has been chosen to take over the role after ECCH's former chairman Paul Steward left in July.

Mr Osmanski has been acting chairman at ECCH since that time, having been a non-executive director of the board since 2014.

ECCH, based at Hamilton House in Lowestoft, provides a range of community-based NHS and social care in the Great Yarmouth and Waveney areas.

ECCH chief executive Jonathan Williams said: 'We are delighted to have Tony as our new chair. He has been an extremely supportive director for three years and is very popular with all our staff.

'This is an important time for ECCH. The organisation is six years old and we are keen to build on our strong foundations providing the highest quality health care but we also want to continue to diversify. All this amidst the development of the Norfolk and Waveney Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP), one of the biggest change programmes in the history of the NHS. That made this a crucial decision.

'We advertised externally and our Shareholder Council, which is made up of staff from across the organisation, interviewed a number of candidates. Despite a strong field, both the Shareholder Council and our executive team were confident that Tony, with his wealth of experience and proven commitment to ECCH, was the right person for the job.'

Mr Osmanski said: 'As a healthcare social enterprise, ECCH retains the same values of care and compassion as NHS organisations but is also able to work in a more flexible way for the benefit of the local community.

'ECCH is a special place to work with everyone throughout the organisation passionate about delivering high quality healthcare to our patients.

'Having undertaken the role of acting chair for several months, I have a clear vision of what this role requires and am looking forward to leading ECCH as we play our part in the wide ranging transformation of the health system across Norfolk and Waveney.

'The Transformation Programme creates a number of challenges but it also presents significant opportunities for ECCH to co-design and deliver more integrated and innovative healthcare across the local area.'

Mr Osmanski starts his new role with immediate effect.