Need to know
For #TeamEEAST Last updated: 05 May 2024 at 04:09
This week's We Are EEAST Briefing and Executive Q&A was led by our Chief Executive, Tom Abell.
Tom was joined by Emma De Carteret, Director of Corporate Affairs and Performance.
Questions for Emma
Q1 - Emma - What have the long established PMO team achieved to date - only know GREATix which was 'borrowed' from other Trusts... any other workstreams that we may not know?
Q2 - Can I ask if there is going to be a PTS specific meeting, rather than just sectors?
Q3 - In relation to the trust core values, I have noticed posters and coverage on the trust intranet. Is there any plans to have an understanding of learning for staff on these values? My thoughts were that managers could pick a topic from the values each month i.e., respect, and ask random members of staff to relate an instance of where they have met the expectations of the value.
Q4 - Any plans to have a new intranet site? EAST24 is looking increasingly neglected, filled with old information and out of date documents etc. Communication will be massively improved with a modern, well governed intranet site where departmental news can be shared, documents available, meeting recordings and minutes, etc.
Q5 - How about a regional session for the rest of the corporate and central functions?
Q6 - Would it be possible for there to be a Q&A for all staff groups on the non-executive week please? The new schedule means that I will have no Q&A session for 2 weeks now and as I am currently working remotely, these sessions are vital for keeping up to date with what is going on in the Trust. Thank you.
Q7 - How do we manage good effective engagement with a mechanism to give feedback of you said we did .. and consultation overload and fatigue…
Q8 - Sharepoint is an obvious solution for a new intranet, already included with our existing Microsoft 365 subscription. No need to spend money on consultancy or an external company/solution, we have all the tools necessary already. Happy to work with the team on a solution. Who does one contact?!
Questions for Tom
Q1 - Using national performance metrics including Model Ambulance, do we know why we benchmark as a high cost, low performing ambulance service? What are we going to do about it?
Q2 - In December 2020 the Trust announced in a press release that it was beginning a project to provide frontline staff with iPads with a brand new ePCR system at an initial cost of £10million. A generous estimate of the cost of an iPad is around £400 (less if you bulk buy) and a generous estimate of the number of staff who would require one is 4780 (sorry I can only find the total number of staff, not the road staff) so the cost of the devices can be estimated at £2 million. This leaves £8 million for the development of the software which is similar to, and in many ways inferior to, the previous Windows Toughbook app. Two years on and it still can’t calculate a patients age from their date of birth, frequently freezes and when the PCR is printed at hospital strips all of the carriage returns out of the free text part so that the paragraphs and headings are merged into one string making it virtually impossible to read (?patient safety issue). I would be interested to know even a rough breakdown of how this £8 million has been spent as it just doesn’t feel like something that would be worth such a vast sum.
Q3 - If the Covid rules haven't changed in line with the government rules, can you look into the overtime/incentives rules regarding staff that have been on covid stand down?
Q4 - Following on with someone’s previous question about qualifications, why is it most roles up the ladder require either HCP or Para on your shoulder? And not previous or gained experience?
Q5 - I just have a question about progression within EEAST. I have asked many senior staff members about this and in all honesty I’m a little baffled by the mixed responses! I must be honest in places I have previously worked, there is always a natural route for staff to progress, without having to go through the application procedure! Can there be a clear and concise way to go in the direction that we desire in order to not only improve ourselves, but to improve EEAST too? By way of giving staff members a real moral boost in achieving their true potential by being recognised for their untapped potential instead of the apprehension and nervousness we get from having to apply to a job within the trust that we already are staff!
Q6 - Has there been any planning or budget setting to increase resource levels as continually having so many patients waiting is not safe nor sustainable? It also leads to increased late finishes and working across borders.
Q7 - At an early meeting we were told that the Trust had been given £500,000 from the Tom Moore fund. So far we have seen benches and a few gardens/outdoor areas. When will the rest of the funds be invested in staff well-being gardens?
Q8 - Seen that we have a new Director of Integration - could you kindly explain what they are responsible for please as this is a new role?
Q9 - It's great to hear we have recruited 117 new Call Handlers, but we still have significant call pick up delays (10mins+) and our average call pick up time in February was 52 seconds. What is the Trust doing to improve the recruitment and retention of Call Handlers and also what are the future plans for increasing the physical space in the AOCs to meet future demand?
Q10 - Is there any update on a head of ops 'caretaker' for Bedfordshire please? Someone who is just focused on the locality - this will surely look after our people better.
Q11 - Many things have been delayed within the Trust with the reason being given as Covid. Many staff have been delayed in handing in their NQP portfolios due to the strain Covid has put on them. Currently the Trust will only increase the pay band once the portfolio is passed. Given that the Trust is losing so many staff will it accept Covid as a valid reason for delayed handing in and give the staff the pay uplift 2 years from their registration date?
Q12 - We’ve heard from one of the MRO managers that the Trust have agreed to purchase yet more Fiats despite all the issues we’ve had with them and assurances from yourselves that the Trust have been seeking alternative/better fleet. Can you shed any light on this please?
Q13 - The Trust is working incredibly hard to combat bullying, harassment and poor behaviours. The Harrassment in the Workplace Survey has been widely publicised, the mandatory module on EVOLVE (EHRC behaviours etc), is perhaps the most important module to date. We have FTSU Guardians but staff anonymity is still an issue as issues raised through FTSU etc, still identifies the staff involved. So would the Trust consider putting into place monitoring Sickness Reviews/management calls by using Teams which is recorded, or if face-to-face the staff are allowed to bring a representative (not necessarily Union, it could be anyone). This not only protects the staff but also protects the managers from malicious allegations. I cannot give reasons underpinning this request due to the nature of the comments made by the LOM involved.
Q14 - Please could you thank all those staff who worked to support the high-risk FA cup match last night between Luton and Chelsea football clubs. Some great team working at all levels. Thank you.
Q15 - Hi a few months ago I suggested a poster/campaign to educate the public when they have arrived at A/E, having made their own way, but have also called an ambulance that could they inform us by cancelling the ambulance. Is this the right forum to suggest things or is there another way that I can highlight this? It would prevent clinicians or crews responding/calling or trying to locate them which does take up a lot of time.
Q16 - As an emergency response driver, I feel the audible sirens and emergency lighting on the current DSA fleet is not satisfactory and have witnessed a large increase in near-misses or accidents since the introduction of these systems. Please can this be addressed with the next fleet purchase/lease, ideally with input from those that have to drive the vehicles. Thank you.
Additional information - In anticipation of siren question coming our way, we did testing for this in 2019. Extrapolated we can’t exceed 80db in the cab and the current siren is 74db, unfortunately with the nature of the construction of the vehicle there isn’t a lot more we can do, or we will exceed this limit and continue to received litigation from staff as we have over the last few years. This siren is the same as used by a huge number of other emergency vehicles, is approved all applicable standards as being suitable.
Q17 - Are we setting up anything Trust-wide to support the Ukraine Appeal? Perhaps out of date bandages etc.
Q18 - What sort of timeline are you expecting to be in place for the delivery of local Christmas leave policies?
Q19 - With the current pressures and daily messages, please can consideration be given to passing information to crews via radio broadcasts rather than MDT messages. Crews frequently see messages too late regarding offload delays diverts etc.
Q20 - Is there going to be more inclusion of the "blue team" as the make ready support team are often forgotten.
You can catch up on previous We Are EEAST Briefings on our Archive page.
Published 7th March 2022