Major changes that affect the structure of health systems in the eastern region come into effect from Saturday .

Major changes that affect the structure of health systems in the eastern region come into effect from Saturday.

The key change is to the way that the ambulance service is organised and from that date the East of England Ambulance Service will be covering

Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk.

It is a combination of the three existing services in the area: Beds & Herts Ambulance, East Anglian Ambulance and Essex Ambulance.

A new strategic health authority covering the same area will also come into effect. The re-structured primary care trusts, which will see county-wide PCTs for Cambridgeshire, Suffolk and Norfolk, with the exception of additional PCTs for Peterborough and a combined Waveney and Great Yarmouth trust, will come on line later in the year.

The new ambulance trust comprises the rural East Anglian area to the north and more urban areas of Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Essex in the south and will be one of the largest trusts in England.