Supporting each other: an update from CEO Robert Morton (14th January)

Robert Morton ambulance OPT

I hope that you will by now have read my email about the sad incident on Friday whereby one of our own was struck by a vehicle whilst on duty. I want to thank each and every one of you who has offered support to our colleague, their family and to each other during what is a very difficult time. I know your words and wishes have meant a great deal to the family, whom Terry Hicks and Matt Broad are keeping in close contact with.

It is humbling to see, how our West Norfolk team, have supported one another over the past week. Please remember that there is no shame in needing or asking for a bit of extra help.  

Sometimes a colleague can need help for a variety of reasons, none of which may be related to work.  We have an excellent employee assistance programme that you can access confidentially, and some wonderful chaplains around the region who I know would be very happy to help anyone in need of some extra support.

I would also encourage managers to attend the blue light programme we are running, so we can all better support our staff.  Further dates have been added and you can access the article about the course here. We have already trained more than 100 managers but the health and wellbeing of our staff and managers, across all functions is a really important issue, and I want everyone to  spread their learning and understanding on this vital topic.

I am also mindful that sometimes the managers are the ones in need of support too. As our lead Chaplain, Lynda, recently reminded me, our services are there for everyone.   Therefore, my ‘ask’ of you all this week, is to look out for yourself and each other, regardless of role, function or rank.

On a separate note, I wanted to thank you again for your hard work over the festive period. I know it was a challenging time but we provided a good service, and that’s something you should all be proud of. Please be assured that the Executive Team is working extremely closely with our commissioners (clinical commissioning groups) to try to tackle some of the challenges that I know you faced, and continue to face every day, like the volume of 111 referrals and hospital handover delays.

With best wishes,

Robert

Published 14th January, 2016

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