The new chief of first aid charity St John Wales has slammed the "convoluted" governance of the organisation and plans to transform it into the "premier charity of Wales" over the next five to six years.

Just four days into his reign as Prior of St John Wales, Dan Clayton-Jones has promised dramatic changes to the charity, which he has been chancellor of for the past six years and involved with for ten.

"The governance of St John has been convoluted in that we have an awful lot of committees and there is no clear command. It's difficult to know how decisions are being made. I want to make the governance clear so the process is much clearer, quicker and straightforward," he said.

"I want St John to develop as a caring, highly professional and effective healthcare organisation. I hope St John will be perceived as the premier charity of Wales," he added.

His ambitions are focussed on generating more money for the organisation and Clayton-Jones sees public service delivery as a prime vehicle to do so. 

"I think that with recession the government's role in providing services is likely to contract and like the Priory in New Zealand, I think St John Wales will play a more pivotal role in underpinning a lot of the work of the NHS. For example, there could be more demand for our patient transport service and our ambulance cover at events," he said.