Need to know
For #TeamEEAST Last updated: 04 May 2024 at 10:41
This week's We Are EEAST Briefing and Executive Q&A was led by Chief Operating Officer Marcus Bailey.
Marcus was joined by our Director of People Services, Marika Stephenson.
Q1 - Why are the Trust waiting till June to issue Jubilee Medals? Our colleagues in Police were issued theirs on the Anniversary of the Queen’s Coronation in February.
Q2 - Could we have an update on any proposed changes to the LOM role which may be planned?
Q3 - Whilst the weekly Leadership messages acknowledging the demand being experienced are welcome, we are not getting any useful information to what the results of these "conversations with system partners" are. I have no doubt the Exec team are working just as hard as everyone else but it's coming across as current demands/pressures/ICI/handover delays/cohorting is being seen as BAU. Please can you consider communicating with us all the actual responses/actions being taken by system partners?
Q4 – Hello, please can we immediately stop dispatch on C2 calls within the 15 minutes disturbable portion of breaks, and only dispatch on C1 calls (all C1). Surely the end of shift trial and normal working has proven a delay does not significantly affect patient care, but does affect crews especially on nights... is being dispatched on a C2 that has waited over 2hours appropriate?
Q5 - What are we doing about staff retention and pay? Specifically, in regard to the private company which is making waves in the area. It’s not a rumour anymore, that they are offering £57k per annum, with a set shift pattern and no night shifts. I find it quite insulting, as a top of band 6 experienced Paramedic, that the Trust are paying a company enough money, for them to be able to afford to pay a Paramedic that kind of wage. What is the Trust paying per Paramedic, for this company to operate?
Yes of course, working for a private company comes with additional risks, but this seems like a very solid deal. A Paramedic of only 2 years’ experience can now leave and earn more than a Paramedic with decades of experience, and cover the same emergency calls in the same area. It makes no sense. Why don’t you offer more bonuses to staff that you already have?
Q6 - With our continued late finishes due to hospital delays, if a crew is out of area and over an hour from their finish station, will anything be done about sending these crews to jobs knowing they will be joining a queue when they have over an hour’s drive back to area adding to the stress, exhaustion and late finishes that are ongoing at the moment?
Q7 - Handovers of over 60 minutes? If only! My last night shifts, Tuesday I didn't respond to one single call, cohorting day crews to get them returned to stations for the whole shift and had one patient on an ambulance for 7.5 hours before being offloaded. Last night, my one and only patient I did get out to was on the back for over 4 hours.
Southend Hospital need to address this as this is impacting not only the services we provide but affects our reputation too. One call from the stack was a suspected fracture and the patient had to wait 44 hours before an ambulance arrived with the patient. This is totally unacceptable and potentially lives are at risk.
Another patient from Tuesday night was a fractured left neck of femur. He sustained the trauma at 2pm Tuesday, a resource didn't get to him until 10pm. Sadly, there's probably many more examples like this. What are we as an Ambulance Trust doing to get our hospitals to address the delays?
Q8 - Why is it that staff that do come in on their rostered shifts were not offered any bonus of £50 to just come in? The demand workload to staff that came in was just as busy for the staff that were working.
Due to my normal work colleague going off with covid I had a bank person come in for 4 shifts extra and was paid £700 in those shifts to work the same vehicle as myself. Why are staff not valued to come into work? Most of our bank staff do full time, It seems a very unfair practice within this Trust.
Q9 - What about the vaccinations for our suppliers? we wrote out to Taxis and agencies I believe.
Q10 - Although we are under sustained extreme pressure, does cancelling Professional Update Training not increase risk and put more pressure on already stretched and exhausted staff; some of whom have a professional responsibility to do this as part of their registration.
Q11 - Why do the Trust constantly take from staff i.e. meal breaks and end of shift? They give nothing back apart from words. We are run all over the county for pointless jobs and exhaustion is high! Dispatch isn’t even trying to get staff stood down at a decent time end of shift. 35 miles on a C2 that is 90mins old in my last hour. Apparently because they were stacking!
Q12 - It is good to hear the proposals to reduce hospital delays, but it doesn't sound like any of the solutions will happen fast. We are already keeping patients at home a lot more than ever and ECAT are doing well with hear and treat. It appears we are doing everything we can. The delays appear to be through the hospital and delays discharging, which won't improve quickly. So, the only quick fix is additional room at A&E - we have seen tents erected at hospitals previously - why doesn't NHSE implement this - Nightingale facilities were a solution previously so why not consider this right now?
Q13 - I qualified as a Tech in April 2021. As part of the Safer Discharge Policy, I’m not allowed to discharge on scene without speaking to CAL. But with more Paras leaving I am working with more apprentices and non-clinical drivers but I am waiting often 30-60 minutes for a call back. Is it appropriate to force a qualified Tech to wait on scene for an hour to have a 5 or 10 minute conversation with CAL for the same safety netting that I do with severe delays at hospital and C2 calls waiting hours and multiple uncovered C1s?
Q14 - Given the elevated risks at the moment with such prolonged handover delays and response times, when will Staff Responders be given the green light? Daily critical incidents declared for weeks now, surely time to look at our processes and expedite the decision making. The risk posed to patients and our organisation through inaction is surely greater than the 'governance' risks that are so frequently cited. Is it not time we just cracked on with it?
Q15 - The £20 missed/spoilt meal break payment has been at this level for years; is it not time this payment was reviewed? £20 15 years ago meant a lot more than it does now.
Q16 - Why is there no tv/media campaign explaining to members of the public the current situation? Let's get on the news, radio and all other media output and engage with them every day. They may assist, during the height of pandemic the call rates dropped.
You can catch up on previous We Are EEAST Briefings on our Archive page. You can also catch up on Local Manager's Briefings here.
Published 4th March 2022