Alison Marquis has been appointed to the newly created post of Deputy Chief Officer of the St John Ambulance & Rescue Service LBG (SJARS).

Mrs Marquis’ principal role is to deputise for the Chief Officer and assist and support the Board of SJARS in providing efficient and effective ambulance, rescue and community services throughout the Bailiwick of Guernsey.  She will also support the Chief Officer on strategic and policy issues, providing leadership and management skills to ensure the delivery of the highest levels of patient care, pre-hospital medical treatment and rescue and community services.

Mrs Marquis joined SJARS in 2006 as its first female senior manager with a non-ambulance service background, which was fairly groundbreaking for the organisation at the time.  Here she was responsible for organisational development and human resources (HR) as well as heading up the community, support and fund raising activities for SJARS.

In 2012, following personal development with the Association of Ambulance Chief Executive’s National Ambulance Resilience Unit in strategic command and leadership, she was promoted to Assistant Chief Officer taking on responsibility for the delivery of emergency ambulance services.

Prior to joining SJARS she was deputy director of HR for the Health and Social Services Department.

Mrs Marquis is a member of the States of Guernsey’s Steering Committee, which is currently reviewing the long-term future of the Ambulance Service.

“It is a very interesting and exciting time.  The outcome of this project will shape the future of the provision of ambulance services in Guernsey, taking into account best practice elsewhere and further collaboration with the island’s other emergency services,” said Mrs Marquis.

Steve Le Page Chairman of St John Ambulance & Rescue Service said: “Over the last few years SJARS has restructured to position itself for the future.  The new post of Deputy Chief Officer is a direct result of this.  Alison comes with a tremendous amount of human resource experience from within the health services and her communication skills are exemplary.  Her appointment will bring a number of challenges, all of which Alison is very capable of rising to.  I am confident that within this new role she will be a credit and great asset to the organisation.”

Mrs Marquis was educated at La Mare de Carteret Secondary School and Guernsey Grammar School before initially developing her HR career within the Social Security Department.   A Corporate Member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) she has attended a number of leadership and strategic training courses throughout her career.  She is currently a director of St John Training Services Guernsey, a position she has held since 2012, and has also been a voluntary member of The Women’s Refuge Senior Management Team.