Leadership message from Marcus Bailey, Chief Operating Officer

I want to start by recognising our positive performance over the past month despite the challenges faced by COVID and also increased demand. In March, we saw calls go up by almost ten percent to just under 100,000, and we attended over 78,000 patients. That means our crews were seeing over 100 patients an hour.

As pandemic restrictions are slowly eased, and the weather gets better, we continue to plan for increases in demand and also potential increases in transmission. That’s why it’s important to follow all the basic steps to keep you and our patients safe during the pandemic. As Dr Tom reminded us all in last week’s message, that means getting vaccinated, wearing masks, donning the right level of PPE and getting tested.

All the latest health and safety guidance can be found on Need to Know. Remember there is a lot of wellbeing support available on the intranet as well covering a wide range of issues, so please do take a look if you are feeling stressed or worried.

Next week we plan to share the feedback from the latest staff pulse survey with you. This survey gives a regular snapshot of how you are feeling about working at EEAST. Without pre-empting the results, I know one of the issues that you feel strongly about is improving communication and engagement with senior managers and leaders. Our communication team will shortly be asking for your help so we know what is working well for you - and where and how we can do better.

Finally, I want to let you know that Workforce Director John Syson will be leaving the Trust this month to take up opportunities outside of EEAST. Interim leadership will be provided by Bob Champion while the Trust recruits a permanent replacement. On behalf of the Executive, I would like to thank John and wish him well for the future. The HR team plays a vital role in supporting our staff, and the interim lead will be a member of the executive team and attend Board to continue to provide the expertise in this area.

Thank you - and do please dial in to our regular WeAreEEAST staff session at 5pm today if you would like to know more about any of these updates or have any questions or comment.

Stay safe

Marcus Bailey
Chief Operating Officer

Published 15th April 2021