Thursday 3rd June - Leadership message from Dr Tom Davis, Interim CEO

We know the vast majority of the public hold the NHS and its staff in high esteem, and are grateful when our crews turn up to care for them. Unfortunately, we also know a minority can become verbally or physically aggressive. Shockingly, over 3,500 ambulance staff across England were physically assaulted last year and numbers continue to rise.

To protect our crews, body-worn cameras are being rolled-out across EEAST this month as part of a national NHS crackdown on violence against staff. Crew members can simply press a button to start recording if they feel threatened when patients or the public become aggressive or abusive. Trials in other parts of the country have been successful, with the presence of the cameras helping to calm many situations down, and also being used as evidence by the police in prosecutions. This is a positive move to protect staff, and has rightly featured heavily in the news this week.

This week also sees the start of our enhanced wellbeing support programme, which has been shaped by feedback on our culture here at EEAST and which will help us build a positive working culture at every level. Additional support will shortly be available for staff to help improve their mental health resilience, called ‘Stronger than you think’, to encourage every individual to reach their potential working at EEAST. More information on these programmes can be found here.

Talking of feedback, a quick thank you to all staff - over 800 of you - that completed the latest Pulse survey. Your views do make a difference and we will share the latest responses with you shortly.

Finally, I mentioned in my last message that we would be celebrating our volunteers this week. If you haven’t already, do take a look at the video messages here from our staff and leadership marking the valuable work our volunteers provide here at EEAST. Our volunteers, like everyone at EEAST, play an important role in giving our communities the safe, caring and professional service they deserve.

Thank you and stay safe.

Dr Tom Davis
Interim CEO

Published 3rd June 2021