Update from Anthony Marsh - 26th March 2015

As we approach the end of March, I am delighted to say that this organisation has met two huge milestones in our progression – no emergency ambulance or rapid response car in our fleet is over five years old and we will have an additional 458 staff working on the frontline through our student paramedic programme when the last two cohorts finish in just over a week’s time. I would like to place on record my thanks to everyone who has made this happen, in particular our HR, training and fleet teams. 

The last two ambulances of the most recent 120 programme were delivered to Chelmsford on Tuesday, with every ambulance supplied fully equipped. This has been a huge investment of 267 new emergency ambulances in less than a year but absolutely necessary for your safety and that of our patients. And it won’t stop here – at yesterday’s Board meeting we discussed the order of new rapid response cars for this year which we will start to rollout in the autumn and we have already placed the order for next year’s new ambulances. 

Our numbers of frontline staff are looking much healthier; with the introduction of the healthcare referral tier, graduate and direct entry paramedics, and direct entry technicians, we have gained 576 frontline staff this year. Even with the number of staff who have left the organisation, we have a 25.18% gain in frontline staff compared to last April. Again, this priority will continue into the next year and I will tell you more about the full set of priorities for 2015/16 next week. 

By the end of the month, we will have also completed the delivery of 1,000 automated external defibrillators across the region. Well done to our community partnership teams for distributing these to golf clubs, libraries, supermarkets, shops, schools and more – they will save lives and I am proud that we have accomplished such a service since the start of the year. 

At yesterday’s Board meeting we introduced new interim Human Resources Director Ruth McAll, and you may have seen the advert for the vacant service transformation director post in this week’s HR ezine. I anticipate making the appointment for this role in April. The Board meeting was itself an extremely positive one, with all members reflecting on the progress of the Trust in the past year and the hard work that staff have put it in. 

Finally, I would like to thank our UNISON colleagues and Trust staff who have met in Norfolk this week to work on ideas to better support staff. I am extremely pleased this shared priority will deliver real results to change your working lives and we will share these with you very soon. 

Published 26th March 2015