Dr Leon Roberts MBE, a GP associate at Oakham Medical Practice, has been appointed the most senior doctor at East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS).

As the service's new medical director he is responsible for maintaining and improving clinical standards of 999 care across 6,425 square miles and six counties.

Well versed in being first at the scene of a medical emergency, Dr Roberts has flown weekly with the Derbyshire, Leicestershire Rutland Air Ambulance for the past seven years and was awarded the MBE in 2010 for his voluntary pre-hospital emergency care work and his military service with the Royal Army Medical Corps.

The 41-year-old served as an Army senior doctor, reaching the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, after studying medicine at Leeds University. His overseas tours of duty include Sierra Leone, Belize, Uganda, Kenya, Canada, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan.

As well as working as a critical care doctor with the Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Rutland Air Ambulance, Dr Roberts has worked as a GP in the Emergency Department at Leicester Royal Infirmary and as an urgent care doctor in Corby. He will continue to work as a GP associate at Oakham Medical Practice.

Already a familiar face at EMAS, having also worked to support the senior leadership and provide clinical guidance for the past two years, he says he is relishing the chance to drive further improvements during a critical and exciting time.

Dr Roberts says: "It is important to me that everybody delivering care at EMAS felt like they were doing it under a medical director who understood, who delivers care in similar circumstances and wouldn't ask crews to do anything that he wouldn't be prepared to do himself.

"The best care happens when different parts of the NHS work together, and I am keen to combine my primary care skills and knowledge with my pre-hospital and in-hospital experience to develop the most effective care pathways for patients.

"It is important to me that everyone delivering care at EMAS feels they are working under someone who understands what they do and wouldn't ask someone to do something they wouldn't be prepared to do themselves. They should know that I understand the daily challenges they are going through.

"There are great opportunities to collaborate across the health and social care sector and I want EMAS to play a leading role, particularly where new technology can play a part in improving the way we assess and treat patients.

"I want to develop a culture where we develop things that work well but we are not afraid to look at things that haven't gone well and we learn from them – lessons learned and professional development are both part of the same process."

Investment in training and recruitment of extra frontline crews, alongside additional and replacement vehicles, is set to continue at EMAS with up to £10m extra available to the trust over the next 12 months, subject to it meeting performance and financial targets.

This follows investment of more than £8m to recruit and train almost 500 extra frontline staff and, in the past four months, EMAS has added 27 emergency ambulances to its fleet, alongside 40 replacement vehicles.

Meanwhile, 47 Urgent Care Ambulances, staffed by 100 urgent care assistants, have been introduced across the region to provide care for patients with urgent but not immediately life-threatening conditions.

Dr Roberts, who lives near Oakham, says: "This is part of the long-term transformation of our ambulance service. We need people who want to be associated with EMAS, who want to work at EMAS and who want to stay at EMAS.

"I am extremely proud of the compassion and commitment shown by teams across EMAS every day as they respond to the challenges we face to provide effective care.

"We need to ensure we have highly skilled staff and resources available to provide the swiftest and most effective responses to the most serious 999 calls – people with immediately life-threatening conditions.

"While many of our calls are for conditions that are not immediately life-threatening, they are from patients in considerable distress and need. In these cases it can often be more important to ensure we get the right level of care to them and take them to the most appropriate place for ongoing care, rather than focussing purely on getting them to the nearest accident and emergency department as quickly as possible.

"It is vital that we maintain the right balance of skills and vehicles available to match the needs of all the patients we serve."

Dr Roberts previously worked with EMAS as an assistant medical director and strategic medical adviser and has supported the service's Clinical Assessment Team in the Emergency Operations Centre to prioritise and offer the best and most appropriate care to patients dialling 999.

He believes his experience of the local NHS from different perspectives will help as the NHS moves towards more effective and collaborative working, finding solutions to patient needs that use skills and expertise from across health and social care sectors.