Need to know
For #TeamEEAST Last updated: 18 May 2024 at 22:06
Dear colleagues,
First of all, I want to thank you all for working through one of the busiest summers we have seen in recent years. New data from NHS England » NHS on track for busiest summer on record indicates that summer 2023 is on track to be the busiest ever for all parts of the NHS with 4.42 million attendances in A&E over June and July – 42,500 more than the previous high (4.37 million in 2022). Ambulance services, too, faced their busiest month since May 2022, with 707,000 incidents last month. I hope that you all managed to have some time off over this busy period.
During September and October, we have a number of awareness events in the calendar that are aimed at raising public awareness about the important role that we and our partners play in delivering urgent and emergency care. You may already know that one of my other roles is working as the Clinical Lead for Essex and Herts Air Ambulance Trust (EHAAT). Air Ambulance Week starts on Monday and this will be an excellent reminder of some of the excellent collaborative work that we carry out together. One of the benefits of working at both EHAAT and EEAST is that I get to see how we work together in highly stressful scenarios from different perspectives. I am frequently impressed by how people adapt quickly to working together as a new team to provide excellent care when our patients most need it. And, of course, earlier this year we signed our first memorandum of understanding between EEAST and all of our air ambulance partners in the region.
Then Saturday 9th September sees Emergency Services Day where we celebrate all of our people working in emergency services – whether that’s as a Paramedic, Call Handler, Make Ready Operative or within Support Services. All of us have a role to play in keeping our patients and communities safe.
Help us Restart a Heart
Restart a Heart Day is an annual event to raise awareness about cardiac arrest. The focus is on teaching CPR and lifesaving skills to as many people as possible; helping them feel confident enough to use them. This year Restart a Heart Day falls on Monday 16th October, with events taking place in the days leading up to and after that date as well.
As a Trust, we use the day to get involved in community events to teach these skills and spread the message about the importance of them when it comes to the chain of survival for patients. In preparation for the day, we’re now starting to look for colleagues who have lifesaving skills or who have been involved in training themselves and would be keen to organise an event in their local area. It could be sharing your skills in a local school, with a cub or scout group, at a community hub, local gym or anywhere else you can think of. If you’re interested in getting involved, please email volunteer@eastamb.nhs.uk. Involvement will be on a first come, first served basis depending on the number of kits we have available.
CQC Year in Review
We have mentioned before in this message that we are expecting a CQC inspection in the coming weeks or months. We are making good progress in improving our Trust and on Friday, Melissa Dowdeswell was interviewed by BBC Radio Cambridgeshire about the lifting of two further conditions CQC recognises further improvements at EEAST (eastamb.nhs.uk). This is really important in ensuring the safety of our staff and patients. You can read more about the work of the Trust over the last year in a new publication: EEAST - A Year in Review (eastamb.nhs.uk).
Our AGM will take place, too, on 6th September which, along with the annual report and quality report, summarises and celebrates our work over the last year.
Improving road safety
Along with all English ambulance services, EEAST is introducing the National Mobilisation Application(NMA) which will replace our legacy Terrafix Mobile Data Terminals across the DSA, RRV and LOM fleet.
The new NMA is designed to improve road safety by minimising driver distractions through the use of text-to-speech and speech recognition. An online training package has been prepared and will be available soon, details of which will be published in due course.
The project is due to enter its pilot phase in September, where the first vehicles will receive the new equipment for operational testing and feedback. Colleagues in the localities will receive further information from the project team and their local management.
Introducing the National Mobilisation Application (NMA) (eastamb.nhs.uk).
Thank You Thursday
Thank you,
Simon
Medical Director
Office of the Chief Executive
East of England Ambulance Service