Trust Dispels Misleading Unison Claims
EEAST is disappointed that Unison continues to issue misleading and
scaremongering press releases, which fail to reflect the range of
improvements being made to the service patients receive.
One aspect of these improvements is the planning of more tailored
shift patterns so underused resources in areas and times of low demand
will be moved to where and when they are needed most and vehicle make up
will be altered to reflect patients’ needs. Unison press releases
however have focused solely on the areas and times from where specific
vehicles are being moved, failing to refer to any points of increased
cover (see notes to editors).
The tailored revisions have been made possible by the most
comprehensive analysis and review of demand the Trust has ever carried
out and the implementation of control room clinical support desks which
are saving more than 900 unnecessary ambulance dispatches a week.
And the Trust will be significantly cutting down on the number of the
planned current shifts which go unfilled on a daily basis. (see notes
to editors).
All these changes will enable us to work more efficiently and
effectively for patients while protecting existing staff in the light of
having to make savings of £50m over the next five years.
More tailored rotas also means vehicles assigned to one particular
area will be tied more closely to serve that local community instead of
being sent out to incidents further afield.
Hayden Newton, Chief Executive of EEAST, said: “More tailored
improved cover overall with vehicles kept within their local area more
and less shifts going unfilled than at present will only benefit
patients and staff - resources will simply be where and when they are
needed most and the vehicle make up may also be different to reflect
patient demand.”
The Trust is not making any staff redundant and is in fact recruiting around 150 more. (see notes to editors)
We are currently discussing these changes with staff and asking them
to get involved locally in the design of their rotas. Staff have the
local knowledge to enhance these rotas further and it also gives them
the opportunity to see how we get more flexibility into our rotas for
staff while better matching resources to demand.
We are investing £250,000 a month in improving cover which has
resulted in, month to date, achieving significantly above the national
ambulance response time standards (see notes to editors).
The commissioners of ambulance services for the east of England
eastern counties also strongly refuted any suggestion that the NHS would
reduce the 999 service to its patients.
Harper Brown, from NHS Norfolk and Waveney which are the lead
Commissioners, said: "We can reassure members of the public that the 999
service will not be compromised. The changes that the ambulance service
is putting in place are designed to improve emergency responses to
patients."
The impact of these changes are being closely monitored by the Trust
board to ensure clinical quality, patient safety and staff welfare is
not affected and reviewed so that any gap in demand following the
revisions is addressed immediately.
Notes to editors:
- Press releases sent out by Unison have included details of stations
with less full-time double staffed ambulances while omitting details of
those with increased cover and also excluding any increased cover in
intermediate tier (urgent) vehicles and rapid response vehicles which
are vital resources when the majority of calls are not life-threatening
emergencies and nearly half of our patients do not need hospital
transport. Rapid response vehicles also get to patients 25% faster, so
can start life saving care quicker.
- For example in Suffolk: Felixstowe, Ipswich, Newmarket and Thetford
will see overall weekly hours of cover increase with more intermediate
tier (urgent) vehicles (ITVs) and/or rapid response vehicles (RRVs).
- In Norfolk: King’s Lynn will get more double-staffed ambulance (DSA)
and ITV hours, Norwich will also see overall cover increase with more
ITVs while Yarmouth, Newmarket and Thetford will get extra cover with an
RRV for the first time while retaining DSAs.
- In Essex, overall number of hours cover in Southend, Maldon, Harlow, Waltham Abbey and Harwich will increase.
- A significant number of the current rostered lines go unfilled on a
daily basis. A target to cut staff abstractions from front line duties
will ensure the new planned rotas are better filled.
- We are recruiting more than 140 new Emergency Care Assistants to the
front line by the end of the year as well as putting a number of
additional paramedics into Cambridgeshire. As part of this process we
are also investing £400,000 in rural resources to compensate for longer
journey times and a large geography.
- Latest Trustwide figures for July show we are getting to more than
77% of the highest priority patients within eight minutes against the
75% national standard.
