Need to know
For #TeamEEAST Last updated: 18 May 2024 at 11:50
It is a privilege and a great responsibility to take over as the new chair of EEAST this week.
A privilege because I have been at EEAST as a non-executive director for the last three years and I have witnessed the determination, professionalism and passion of my colleagues in all areas of the service, not least when I have had to call 999 to support members of my family.
The last few years have not been easy for anyone in the health and care sectors and at times it has been even tougher on us in the ambulance service. Nothing beats the dedication, the humility and the good humour that I have found throughout our ambulance service and these qualities will serve us well over the coming period.
It is also a great responsibility because we are serving a population of six and a half million people, who are often at their most vulnerable when they call for our help. I also feel a responsibility to our 6,000-plus staff, and 1,000 volunteers.
I want to be clear that I am under no illusions about the difficulties we face - I know that we haven’t always delivered what we wanted for both patients and staff. I am very aware that external challenges like people calling 999 when they feel they have nowhere else to go and the problems we face handing over to strained A&E units are not going to be fixed overnight. I also understand the challenges we face internally such as too many shifts not finishing on time, cases of bullying and harassment and over stretched managers.
However, the changes that we have started to make under the leadership of Nicola Scrivings, our previous chair and Tom Abell as Chief Executive have started to deal with some of these issues and many of you will have felt the benefits of the new culture of honesty and openness and the direction that our new clinical and people strategies bring.
For my part, I have a lot of experience leading organisations through change and I have spent the last few years as executive chair of an organisation with over 100,000 members representing families of children and young people with disabilities. I have worked with the NHS and government at a local, regional and national level to improve outcomes. I hope to bring some of this experience to support EEAST.
Key to everything we do is partnership with our patients and staff. That’s why I chose to spend my first day as chair attending my mandatory fire safety training with colleagues in Stevenage on Monday. There I met and heard from many of the people that make our service work including A&E operations, Make Ready, the workshop team and PTS. I even met a patient who was there to thank crews for saving her life when she had a cardiac arrest. I really enjoy meeting staff and the public this will be an important part of what I do. The chair and board should be transparent accountable to all our colleagues, whether staff or volunteers. For that reason, in the next few weeks I will be holding an open Q&A with you on Teams where I will happily discuss any issue with you.
Why? Because we will be honest, open and transparent about the challenges we face and we will be relentless in our drive to improve. It is the same determination, professionalism and passion that I have witnessed from you over the last few years that makes me confident we will build on the progress we have made, and make the changes we want to see.
Mrunal Sisodia OBE
Trust Chair
Published 6th June 2023