Update from Anthony Marsh: values, progression and praise (5th February 2015)

What do you stand for? That’s the question I, and the rest of the Board, will be asking you over the next few weeks; we all have values that determine our decisions and what we think is important, but we want to know what values you think we should have as an ambulance service. EEAST is changing for the better; our values need to reflect that and it’s vital, as people who work here every day and know this organisation, that you help to decide what they should be. There’s a quick survey here on Need to Know where you can share your views, please do take the time to complete it as your opinion matters in helping to shape the future of the Trust.

As I mentioned in my message last week, one of the priorities that will continue for 2015/16 is our commitment to the progression of frontline staff. This is extremely important to the organisation, as we have such a great base of experience internally to build on to create more paramedics, which in turn gives our patients a much better clinical service.

By the end of March, 60 ECAs will have completed their clinical training to become EMTs in 2014/15, with the current course in Chelmsford due to finish on 27^th February. Another 60 have been allocated a place in 2015/16 and in April, 27 EMTs will be taking up their places at university to become paramedics, in addition to the 25 who started in 2014.

The Trust will continue to run courses until every ECA has had the opportunity to progress to an EMT if they wish to. If you have any questions about allocations or your progression, please speak to your line manager. I am also exploring ways in which we can accelerate ECA to EMT and EMT to paramedic progression during 2015/16.

Finally, I was delighted to hear that at the Bedford borough Health Overview Scrutiny Committee meeting this week, the councillors were full of praise for our staff and volunteers, and the progress we have made over the last 12 months. Thank you for your continued efforts and hard work to improve our ambulance service – we are making good progress and it is nice for this to be recognised publically.

Published 5th February, 2015