Need to know
For #TeamEEAST Last updated: 02 May 2024 at 18:33
A memorable weekend
After ten days of national mourning at the start of this week the nation paused for the State Funeral of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. To those of you who were working on Monday, thank you for being there for our patients and colleagues. Thank you also to all of you who gave up your time to act as mutual aid support for our London Ambulance Service colleagues on the day itself. We were overwhelmed by the response from across the Trust to the call for volunteers, and whether you were there or not, it is heart-warming to be part of a service where we pull together in this way.
Time for change
The appointment of a new Government means we now have a new Secretary of State for Health, one of our own local Suffolk MPs, Thérѐse Coffey, who has already stated that ambulance response times are among her four top priorities in the new role.
It was also good to hear Amanda Pritchard, Chief Executive of NHS England, tell ambulance leaders at the recent Ambulance Leaders Forum conference that the number one priority for the NHS this winter is reducing the pressure on ambulance services.
We will continue to work with leaders in government and across the NHS to find sustainable solutions to the challenges faced across urgent and emergency care services in the east of England.
Winter preparedness
In our region, we are working with our own regional NHS team and each of the Integrated Care Systems (ICS) to agree our plans for winter preparedness. A core component of these plans is a commitment to reduce handover delays and improve the out of hospital support for our crews. This includes initiatives such as ‘call before you convey’ which gives crews the opportunity to call from scene for clinical support and advice on whether a patient does need to attend a hospital or can be safely treated at home.
As part of our Fit for the Future programme, we are also continuing our work around creating localised business units within the ICS footprints. Following an engagement exercise with colleagues from across the Trust, we are now working with some of the systems to agree potential pilot sites to trial local business units. These business units will offer some local flexibility around areas such as recruitment and resourcing while recognising that other activities (e.g. training and education) are best organised at a regional Trust wide level. This is important across an area as broad as the East of England. It is still early days, but we are exploring how the model could work and the opportunities for further joint working with emerging Urgent and Emergency Care teams.
Protect yourself and others this winter
Our annual flu vaccination programme begins in early October and will be offered to all staff and volunteers across the Trust. Protecting yourself, your loved ones, and our patients, is vitally important as we head towards winter. This year, we have even more clinics available as well as a flu vaccine bus which will be travelling around the area, so it really will be easy to get vaccinated. More information on Need to Know.
COVID-19 boosters are also available for frontline staff and volunteers can be booked via the NHS National Booking Service.
Headspace
Following the launch of the Headspace app earlier this month, I’m pleased to say that over 300 of our staff have already downloaded the app. As a reminder, the app is completely free for all EEAST employees and will be available for our volunteers to download from early October.
Headspace provides you with unique tools and resources to help reduce stress and anxiety whilst helping to increase your energy levels, build resilience and improve your sleep. If you’d like more information and missed the 'Getting to know Headspace' webinar last week, I would encourage you to listen to this two minute breathing exercise.
Thank you Thursdays
As always, I’ll finish with a reminder that the work you are doing does not go unnoticed and is making a real difference in the local communities that we cover. This week’s Thank You Thursday message comes from mid Essex.
Take care,
Kate Vaughton
Deputy CEO
Published 22nd September 2022