Results and progress: an update from CEO Dr Anthony Marsh 17th April

Anthony talking to student paramedics

Firstly, I’d like to welcome you to our new look Need to Know. Please do take the time to read and explore the site, which is turning 24/7 so you can read the latest news from the Trust, as it happens. To make our news as accessible as possible to staff we will also be producing a summary of Need to Know in a PDF document which will be sent every Thursday to nominated operational managers to display on stations.

I’m pleased to say that we have now moved out of Cambourne and set up Melbourn as the Trust’s HQ. This frees up space for us to use Cambourne as a training venue for the student paramedic courses we’re running. The move will also save us money long-term, and more importantly bring the HQ closer to the frontline - thank you to everyone who has made the move possible in such a short space of time.

I’ve been out and about around the patch this week, and enjoyed visiting the Bedford Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee (HOSC) on Tuesday. I mainly spoke about our six priorities, which were well received, but what really shone through was how complimentary the HOSC was of all of you. Some of the group have been on ride-outs with us over the last few months and they had very positive praise about the clinical care they saw on the road.

I also spent the day in Norfolk on Monday meeting and talking to our newest student paramedics in Norwich. It was really good to have some time with them and their enthusiasm and passion really did come through – they are exactly the calibre of people we want to join the EEAST team and I look forward to welcoming many more to the service during this year. As you’ll know our latest student paramedic advert was published last week and as of Tuesday we had received more than 440 applications, which is fantastic as it shows that people really want to be a part of our service. Some of you may have also seen the feature that Look East ran last week about our recruitment. Unfortunately it’s no longer on iPlayer so I can’t share the link with you, but it was really positive to see the media talking about the good things we do and the hard work of our staff.

After dropping into Norwich EOC, I then headed up to Cromer to take part in a public meeting about our service. It was a very productive and interactive session, attended by residents and staff. We know how much work has gone into improving the service we provide in Norfolk and it was important to feed that back; we’ve increased ambulance cover in north Norfolk to improve responses to patients, the first group of student paramedics are already training in Norwich, and thanks to the hard work of staff we’ve already seen the average ambulance response times in north Norfolk reduce by around nine minutes in just three months.

What is especially gratifying is that north Norfolk isn’t an isolated case. In January, Trust-wide we were averaging at around 19 and a half minutes for an ambulance response to Red 1 and Red 2 calls. As of the end of March, that figure fell to around 16 and a half minutes. I don’t think anyone could disagree that getting ambulances to people more quickly is better for our patients, and whilst we still have a long way to go this is a really encouraging step in the right direction.

And the only people that can take credit for that is you, my staff, so I would like to say a big thank you for your continued hard work and commitment. You are what makes our service great, and what continues to make me proud to work here.

Dr Anthony Marsh, QAM

Chief Executive Officer

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