Kicking off EEAST Commercial Week

This week, we’re going behind the scenes with EEAST’s commercial service business units, who are responsible for managing the income generation arm of our organisation and sit within our Partnerships and Integration Directorate.

The commercial services team, work with external clients to provide key services, which create profitable income that is then reinvested back into our own frontline services here at EEAST, with a view to providing funding to develop more innovation opportunities across the Trust.

Our commercial services include CallEEAST, TrainEEAST and the National Performance Advisory Group (NPAG) who are based within the Trust. During the week we’ll learn more about what each area of the team does and find out about the important contribution they make to enable us to continue providing the very best care for our patients.

Andrew Gay, head of commercial services, said:

‘We know a lot of colleagues across the Trust may not be aware of the pivotal role commercial services plays in generating profitable income streams for the organisation. I’m hoping that over the week we will be able to highlight what we do, raise awareness of the different business areas and share how their work may also be of benefit to EEAST colleagues. Commercial services is a rapidly growing part of EEAST and it’s important that everyone has an understanding of what we do and how we fit into the wider Trust picture.’

We’re kicking off today with probably the most well-known branch of the business, the CallEEAST team.

I’ve heard of CallEEAST, but I don’t actually know what it is.

CallEEAST is the Trust’s non-emergency, outsource contact centre/BPO Contact Centre. We handle calls on behalf of other organisations who cannot manage the function in-house, or choose to out-source this part of their business. We also offer signposting services, customer services functions, out of hours and overflow call management and virtual receptionist services.

In addition, CallEEAST delivers the call handling and eligibility screening services for the Trust’s non-emergency patient transport services. We handle in excess of 800,000 calls every year, across a client base of 80 separate contracts. We’re based within Norwich EOC at Hellesdon and are a team of 70 colleagues, ranging from call handlers, dispatchers and the management team.

Some of our main clients include:

Birmingham Community Health Care NHS Trust - taking calls from patients wanting to access one of the 30+ community nursing teams across Birmingham, and ensuring they are put in touch with the correct team for their specific needs. 

50+ GP surgeries across Norfolk and Waveney - covering services for lunch hours and training days.

Fertility Clinics – managing an on-call system for patients who have concerns with their treatment or require medical support and accessing a clinician for them when required.

Iceland – providing call handling support for stores across the UK who are experiencing faults with freezers or fridges, and dispatching engineers to rectify the problem. 

UK Health Security Agency – handling calls for the East of England Team (including Public Health England in the region) around escalations of concern regarding public health, such as infectious diseases.

Integrated Care Services/Integrated Care Board (ICB) - supporting both Bedford, Luton & Milton Keynes, and Cambridgeshire & Peterborough ICB with on call and command functions, including managing on-call escalations to senior managers.


Annie Cant, nursing development director of Bourn Hall Fertility Clinic said:
‘Bourn Hall has employed the services of East of England Ambulance Service for our out-of-hours emergency support for our patients for many years and have always been provided with an excellent service. It is essential that the clinic has a system in place which provides this important patient support during times when the clinics are not open, and it has proved invaluable. Patients are re-assured that they can have access to advice from our specialised staff via this service, and the staff at the EEAST are always diligent in ensuring every call is handled sympathetically and promptly.’

As you can see, we offer a range of solutions to suit all businesses, so if you know anyone that is looking for contact centre services then let them know we are here! Alternatively, if you're interested in the work we do and would like to find out more then you can give us a call on 01603 422858 or email CallEEAST@eastamb.nhs.uk

Thank you,
The CallEEAST team

Check out NTK tomorrow to hear Grace Mcgregor’s story about starting her career journey at CallEEAST..

Published 17th July 2023