THE chairman of the scandal-hit South East Coast Ambulance Service (Secamb) Tony Thorne has resigned, it was reported last night.

It emerged last October that the trust had delayed sending help for certain calls to allow extra time for patient assessments.

The reasons for Mr Thorne’s resignation were not known last night.

Chief executive Paul Sutton remains in place.

Mr Thorne’s resignation from Secamb, which has been beleaguered for months, follows a crisis meeting of bosses at the trust.

Mr Sutton has come under increasing pressure over the past six months since it emerged Secamb was being investigated following a controversial decision to introduce an unauthorised experiment that led to ambulance delays for up to 20,000 patients.

Mr Sutton has insisted the NHS 111 pilot, brought in last winter, was purely for care and safety issues because the trust was under major pressure at the time.

Secamb delayed sending help for certain 111 calls, transferring them instead to the 999 system as part of the pilot.

An eight-day-old baby and a patient suffering an obvious stroke were among the patients whose ambulances were delayed as part of the experiment.

The trust defended the project but acknowledged the “serious findings” of a report into the practice.