Need to know
For #TeamEEAST Last updated: 18 May 2024 at 13:18
This week, we launched our Clinical Strategy 2023-2025 which was developed with our partners across the various integrated care boards (ICBs) and sets out our plan for delivering the very best in patient care over the next three years.
The strategy explains why focusing on a patient’s individual needs is the best way of improving both their outcome and overall experience within urgent and emergency care. It outlines a new way of working, which will see us sending the most appropriate response to our patients and supporting them to find alternative care as and when it is appropriate.
Whilst for our most critically ill patients, in life-threatening situations, an emergency response is needed, there are also times when it’s better for our clinicians to hear and treat over the phone or refer patients to partners in alternative pathways within their local community or surrounding area.
It is great to finally be able share it with everyone. I do believe it will allow us to continue improving and building on the excellent patient care you are all providing to our communities right across the region, making it a more personalised experience for each individual patient.
Keeping our patients safe
In my last executive message, I spoke about the changes that are coming into place for patient safety and the way we investigate serious incidents.
From this weekend, we are formally moving to the new patient safety incident reporting framework, a nationwide change which allows NHS trusts to have open and honest conversations with patients, families and colleagues at those unfortunate times when something does go wrong. Not only is the approach more compassionate than the current way we look at serious incidents, it also gives us the scope to spot any recurring themes and look into them more closely.
Next week, for most of you, it will be business as usual. Training has been given to those who require it and frontline teams are aware that the change is taking place. I just want to thank the patient safety team and everyone who has been involved in getting us to this point, it’s been a year of planning and implementation, but we’re finally there and it is definitely a positive change which I hope will allow us to better support everyone who is involved in those rare occasions when we need to review a clinical situation.
Coffee time
Next week, the national Staff Survey launches across the NHS and we’ll be asking for your help to take a few minutes of your time and respond to the questions, which help to create a picture of the overall experience each of us has working here at EEAST.
As a thank you, we’ll once again be providing each responder with a £5 Costa voucher, kindly funded for us by the EEAST Charity. The survey is managed by Picker, an external organisation, and they will be emailing everyone on Monday with a unique link to access the survey. Responses are completely anonymous and whilst the results are localised it is not possible to identify individuals from the responses.
More information about the survey, as well as set of FAQs and details of how and when you will receive your voucher will be available on Need to Know in the coming days.
Being inclusive
This is National Inclusion Week, a week that’s all about celebrating inclusion and taking action to make inclusion a reality in the workplace. Inclusion is a key driver behind the work that’s currently taking place across the Trust to redevelop the culture of the organisation. We recently shared the EEAST Inclusivity Plan, which you can find on our website, and sets out how, over the next three years we will bring together the work of all our EDI networks to deliver against common goals, with measures in place to monitor our progress around inclusion and ensure all our colleagues with protected characteristics feel valued.
If you’d like to hear more about the plan and the work already being undertaken in this area, then please check out the Fit for the Future podcast recorded by Caroline Nwadu, Head of Culture and Inclusivity and Navrita Atwal, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Manager who discuss the plan in more detail.
Meeting Basic Needs
Our first Meeting Basic Needs (MBN) programme is nearly complete, and I’m pleased to say we managed to resolve issues for everyone who attended or got in touch. The programme was set up after several recurring themes were picked up through the QI café schedule, around issues frustrating colleagues. So far, we’ve had six Meeting Basic Needs events, during which almost 30 colleagues came to the team with unresolved issue, which are now concluded. The QI cafes are a valuable way of raising those things that frustrate you, or you feel make a real difference to you in the workplace. through sharing your honest views, we can work with you to make the organisation an even better place to work. The next event in the series is taking place today (28 September) in Chelmsford, you can find out how to join on Need to Know. A further event will be held in Hellesdon on 11 October, focusing on uniform, and details of how to take part will be shared with you very soon.
Behaviour in the workplace
A last minute reminder that our Workplace Behaviours Survey closes tomorrow (29 September) so if you haven’t yet done so, please share your thoughts. Remember, it is completely anonymous, you cannot be identified from the answers you give, but the more responses we gather the more we can do to build a positive, open culture for all us working at the Trust. Thank you for taking the time to respond. You can find the survey here.
Waste training
We all have a responsibility to make sure our waste is segregated and disposed of appropriately, whether it’s clinical, confidential or recycling. That is why we have introduced a bespoke waste management training package as part of the Trust’s mandatory e-learning.
The short training module is now available on your e-learning profile, whether you are still on Evolve or have moved to OLM. The training explains why segregation is crucial and should hopefully answer any questions you may have. If you want to find out more about supporting the Trust to become more sustainable you can email the sustainability team directly.
Thank You Thursday
This week our thank you is for two crews who were on hand for a special delivery in South Herts recently.
‘My husband, son and I would like to thank the TWO ambulance crews that turned up to help us when I unexpectedly gave birth at home, The crews helped me out in my hour of need and I’m grateful for everything they did when I was at my most vulnerable'.
And finally
Congratulations to our very own Mark Giddens, who was been shortlisted as a finalist in the Sun newspaper’s Who Cares Wins Awards. Mark is a senior paramedic working out of Stevenage. He has been with the Trust for 34 years and was nominated in the 999 Hero category. You can read Mark’s story on Need to Know. Whilst he didn’t win on the night – he’s a winner in our eyes.
Thank you for the care you provide to our patients, and each other.
Melissa Dowdeswell
Interim COO and Director of Nursing, Safety and Quality
Published 28 September 2023