Need to know
For #TeamEEAST Last updated: 08 May 2024 at 05:23
For those of you who missed it, I wrote out on Friday (6th May) to everyone to give you an update on the CQC inspection following the completion of the well-led interviews last week. We have now also added the verbal feedback letter we received on the well-led element of the inspection so you can take a look at this.
Planning for our People
We spend a large part of our lives at work and it’s important that it’s a place where you feel comfortable and enjoy being part of the wider team. This is the basis of the People Strategy we’re developing which will cover everything from making HR processes easier, to guaranteeing that you receive the training you need.
We know it’s a challenge, but we also know it’s needed. We want to be an employer of choice, our BME colleagues must be represented at all levels and we need to be recruiting and retaining our people, providing them with meaningful careers and opportunities to develop. You can find out more about our plans in my latest Fit for the Future blog.
Long Service Awards
Invites are going out this week for our two Long Service Awards events, being held at the end of June. If you are due to receive an award you will be invited to one of the two ceremonies on 28th and 30th June and will be able to invite a guest to attend with you. However, if you cannot make the event itself, or would like to see colleagues receiving their awards, we will also be live streaming both ceremonies and will share details of how you can get involved nearer the time.
Jubilee Medals and Coins
For those of you asking about the Jubilee medals and coins, details about both, are here. Just to clarify, every member of the Trust will receive either a medal or a coin, no-one will be presented with both.
The medals are a government initiative. They will be given to people working in emergency services who have been in paid service, retained or in a voluntary capacity for five full calendar years on 6 February 2022, and who also “publicly face the prospect of dealing with emergencies as part of their conditions of service.” The government is defining ‘emergency services personnel’ as ‘those who respond to the scene of 999 calls and who are potentially placing themselves in danger.’ In addition, the five years qualifying service may be aggregated, but non-effective, unpaid or broken service will not count.
The coins are our own EEAST thank you and will be given to everyone in the organisation who does not receive a medal. Both medals and coins will be presented to you by your line manager during June. Please do read the information which outlines all the details.
Support for our frail patients
Supporting our patients to stay at home is important, both for our patients and our crews, but from speaking to some of you I know that it’s not always clear what the alternatives are when it comes to caring for our frail patients.
We want to help make this process easier and provide you with the appropriate training and support in order to feel confident in taking decisions around frailty, and also provide clearer patient pathways so everyone understands the options and pathways that are available.
In order to do this, we would like to better understand how confident you are in defining and treating frailty, the current position in terms of pathways on offer in your locality to reduce avoidable conveyance to ED, and any barriers you currently face. Please take a few minutes to complete our frailty survey, which is open until the end of May. We are already trialling different options in the west of the region, particularly BLMK, but we know this needs to be an area of focus on a wider scale across our region. The more responses we receive to the survey, the better placed we are to achieve this. You can find the survey here.
Liz Truss visit
As some of you will be aware I met with Liz Truss last Friday when she came to Swaffham to see one of the ambulances that we are donating to Ukraine.
A key thing I have been doing is to work with stakeholders such as MPs to talk about all the fantastic things that you do day in, day out alongside the work required to improve our service and the way we work. It’s also an opportunity to ask for their help to solve some of the external challenges we face
International Nurses Day
Today marks International Nurses Day (12th May) and is an opportunity for us to recognise not just the work of our own nursing colleagues within EEAST, but also those nurses that we work with through our partner organisations, whether that’s at acute trusts or in the community. Their support makes all our roles that bit easier and the service you provide for our patients is invaluable.
Lift Someone out of Loneliness
Loneliness is something that we all experience but admitting you’re lonely is often very difficult and it can also be hard to know how to help someone you know is struggling. This week is Mental Health Awareness Week, and this year’s Every Mind Matters campaign is asking us all to help ‘Lift Someone out of Loneliness’. Whether it’s sending a text, meeting for a walk or having a coffee together, small things like that really can make a big difference if someone is having a tough time, and could help you feel less lonely too.
As part of Mental Health Awareness Week, we’re also sharing information about taking care of your mental health, including a grid to help you work out whether you may need some support, and where you can find it. Please do use the resources that are available to you and take a little time to look out for each other.
Thank you and take care.
Tom Abell
Chief Executive
12th May 2022