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:
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.
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