Need to know
For #TeamEEAST Last updated: 20 April 2024 at 09:04
Question 1 - With most of us being stuck at hospital for hours with handovers and most of our fleet having fridges now would the service not consider supplying drinks and snacks for the crews when the buses are being made ready. The Trust keeps going on about staff welfare but there is absolutely no staff welfare at the minute.
Question 2 - I have heard from my adult children, that the general public are deleting the Track and Trace app to avoid having to isolate. What are your thoughts on this?
Question 3 - I have a concern about the use of face masks while wearing glasses. Because glasses steam up while wearing them it has been deemed that masks do not have to be worn when wearing glasses while driving. However, there doesn’t seem to have been a risk assessment carried out for when staff enter a premises. Steamed up glasses means the wearer can’t see what they are doing and, more importantly, are unable to determine any threat level. Is it possible for this issue to be looked at, if it hasn’t already, and have control measures put in place to reduce the risk?
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Question 4 - With blistering summer heat please can we refrain from wearing white suits when carrying out AGP’s? Obviously we could carry on wearing FFP3 masks with goggles or hoods, gloves and aprons. I understand the importance of protecting against Covid, however the risk of heat related illness to staff is equalling as important surely? Many thanks for the trusts continued hard work in these challenging times.
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Question 5 - Will the Trust look to source uniform made from modern, lightweight, technical fabrics? Given the high temperatures we have been experiencing it seems to me that this would be a sensible move.
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Question 6 - Reference the recent training issues. The Trust has a commercial training team who have all the qualifications to teach. They are nothing to do with the Trust’s Training department. Could they be utilised in providing the apprentice training?
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Question 7 - I am one of those that applied for the AEMT course in September of 2020. I was told on the 14-06-2021 that the course would be starting on the second of august, at Newmarket. Like others that had applied, this was short notice, and meant the cancelling of plans.
Since the announcement of the OFSTED report, not a single person has been in touch with any of us to update us. We have no idea if there is a course in august anymore, or where it will be. If this course isn’t on, we have no idea when, or even if there will be another for us. Can someone please make contact with us, to let us know what’s happening, even if the update is simply to say, we don’t know yet, but we haven’t forgotten you.
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Question 8 - I understand the Trust is struggling to cover shifts and has felt the need to offer incentives to do this. It seems very unfair that staff currently working and not able to benefit from the incentives are in no way recognised for their hard work during these periods. It is very divisive to have one member of staff earning obscene amounts more than someone already rostered on shift. Offering incentives to bank staff who have often left the trust to pursue careers elsewhere leaving us in our current mess and rewarding them above people who have remained loyal and continued working for the trust is another blow. Finally, why offer incentives for short day shifts when cover is reasonable compared for lates and nights when the cover is required. Surely there should be different incentive amounts based on length of shift and time of day. As a taxpayer I wonder at the economics of such incentive schemes. Surely the money would be better spent on retaining staff, so we were not in this mess in the first place.
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Question 9 - Better plan for incentives - £50 extra for everyone on a rostered shift, £100 for anyone who takes up overtime or something similar?
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Question 10 - I am aware of several employees who are considering a collective grievance over the recent incentive payments for those who were excluded - MROs, HALOs, PTS, LOMs - the consequence has been a huge knock to morale. Where is the equality, especially with staff from various roles now feeling more undervalued than ever before?
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Question 11 - Rather than bolstering the numbers of call-handlers would it be more prudent to 'up-skill' the current call handlers so that they are able to make them more autonomous decisions and thus more appropriate triaging and thus dispatching? This would make staff feel valued within their current roles (being offered development) and assist in reducing staff fatigue on the road.
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Question 12 - Is it possible to provide water more regularly, currently we have to hit various temp levels over a number of days before water is provided, could we not just provide it through the summer months for all staff (bottled for road staff and water fountains on all stations) I understand this is a cost, but it would be very well received by the hard working staff.
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Question 13 - I've tried to get OT for weekend and told there is none available. But yet we are stretched. Crews being sent over 50miles on jobs leaving our sectors down crews. This isn't safe especially if you’re driving so far.
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Question 14 - We have numerous times put forward ideas about tea trucks, drinks on buses etc. I put forward the idea on here months ago and we kept being told stay with us we are looking into things. Shouldn't take months to enact crew welfare.
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Question 15 - So, if it’s the end of September with new provider are we getting extensions because of this mess?? A lot of us are afraid we are wasting our time continuing with the work if it’s not transferable.
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Question 16 - Is Road staff able to work in EOC to help? I'm a previous call handler still certified. I'd be willing to help if accommodation was sorted due to the distance in traveling.
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Question 17 - What is the likelihood of the paramedic course that are due to be in uni next week that they will be cancelled and returned to the road, this is causing them great worry given they have had a course cancelled them before.
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Question 18 - I would like to express my concerns around the amount of personal time required to be used by EEAST staff for the purpose of training, CPD and admin such as timesheets, booking holiday, catching up on e-mails and Trust updates. In my view this is detrimental to staff wellbeing and work life balance as we are constantly receiving emails and updates as well as using rest days to call LOM’s, book holiday, contact admin teams etc. Whilst I appreciate that some time can be claimed as overtime for some training and CPD this means putting in even more hours than our already long shifts. Very few employers in this day and age would expect staff to use their own time for work-based admin and it would be fair to suggest it is not wholly reasonable to expect it.
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Question 19 - A HVG driver would legally be required to have several breaks during the course of a long shift to prevent fatigue and dangerous practise. Given that the majority of incidents these days are not life-threatening, and with crews travelling several hundred miles across borders every shift, why has the safety of crews and patients not been seriously considered with regards to fatigue?
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Question 20 - I’m being told to return from shielding to frontline, which is completely understandable, particularly in light of the increasing pressures. Is it possible to promise that its 100% Covid secure? Im scared...
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Question 21 - Does the Trust have a short to medium term plan for what to do regarding the meal break points being removed? I appreciate the level of demand is high presently but frankly I cannot see this letting up in the near future. Secondly, most crews seem to believe that it is the dispatcher who instigates the MB point removal. This means that the dispatchers are the ones that are getting the complaints from angry, upset crews and questioning about why decisions have been made. Could you please clearly inform operational staff the rationale behind the decision to remove meal break points, who is responsible for making this decision, reiterate that the dispatchers are not the ones who choose to do this, and provide staff with a means of letting their negative feelings around MB point removal known.
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Question 22 - Have you looked into rotating LOMs round areas every few years so that they don’t become complacent? like in the Army when command gets rotated.
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Question 23 - Whilst I can appreciate we have been somewhat inundated with survey-overload; in terms of encouraging staff to come forward with innovative ideas to help facilitate some 'quick wins' perhaps instead of hoping staff will come to you with them (given the current culture maybe hesitant) encourage staff by offering out a survey/opportunity for all staff a specific avenue to put these forwards?
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Question 24 - Although I don't completely agree with rank, who has ultimate authority with decision making regarding resource moves to another area for example. Tactical Commanders in TOC are band 8a and wear a crown, AGMs are the same and GMs 8b with crown and pip. Can an AGM for an example disagree with an instruction made by TOC which is 'questionable'?
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Question 25 - Is there any update in regard to the Apprentices? A lot of the overtime going out is for qualified staff and im sure there is a lot of AEMT’s across stations who are competent/ready to be qualified but are now on hold due to the ongoing situation.
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Question 26 - I can't remember when the last time I actually got the legal 45 min break. Always sent a job 5seconds after 30min break is up for a calls that have been sitting for 8 or 9 hours at a time. Am sure they cud wait an extra 15 mins.
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Question 27 - What is the long-term plan regarding more appropriate vehicles given the poor quality of the current Fiat DSAs.
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Question 28 - Is there any scope for officers to be issued with Corpuls rather than an AED in their lease vehicles, this would then enable officers who respond to C1 calls to be able to provide better care for the patients rather than having to wait for another resource to arrive to provide a 3 lead or 12 lead ECG.
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Question 29 - We do appreciate all you are doing and for the chance to give you feedback, thank you. Please keep the channels of free-flowing communication going.
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Question 30 - Get rid of the fake leather seats on fiats. Not comfortable in hot weather.
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Question 31 - You mention the national vehicle specification regarding Fiats, if that is the case how do other trusts continue to purchase and run different specifications?
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Question 32 - Myself and my crew mate often cover 150-200 miles on a night shift and this is normally as we are out of area, which means we are routinely late off as well, this is not safe.
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Published 26th July 2021