Election special Electing governors to the Members Council

Transcription

1 The newsletter for members of the East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust Welcome from Lesley Bradley Director of Business Transformation talks about the next stage of FT Election special Electing governors to the Members Council A jubilant time for Essex responders Volunteers receive Queen s Medal Climbing the clinical summit Staff develop their clinical knowledge to benefit patients Issue 4: July 01

2 Another step closer: The next phase of assessment Welcome from Lesley Bradley, Director of Business Transformation I have been heading up the foundation trust project as lead director and working with a fantastic team of people to ensure ours has been a robust application. I m delighted to share the great news that we are now in the final stages of foundation trust assessment after the Secretary of State for Health approved our application in early June. We are now preparing for a thorough assessment by Monitor, the NHS Foundation Trusts regulator. Monitor will review Trust strategies and plans to decide when it will come into the Trust to start the final assessment. It could be sooner rather than later, but once Monitor is with us, the whole process will take about three to four months. It also means we can prepare our governor election timetable, the process of which will be supported by an external company called UK Engage. As you may have gathered by now, governors will sit on the Members Council, the body which will hold the Trust Board to account and is made up of governors from Being involved with the ambulance service means something different to everyone the public, staff, volunteers and stakeholder groups. It will have a direct impact on how the Trust develops its strategy and services, and will appoint the Trust Chair and Non-Executive Directors. As I write, we re finalising invitations to members formally asking you to express an interest in standing as a governor. Becoming a governor will give you a chance to have a direct say in how the Trust moves forward into the future. I know we have enthusiastic members who want to be involved, and the membership engagement events we have lined up will hopefully give us an even clearer idea of what you want from your ambulance service. The next member event is at Cambourne on July 5, in conjunction with the annual public meeting so please come along. It s been great to share such good news with you in this edition, and please remember to feedback your ideas and comments to the FT team.

3 News 3 Putting HART into Braintree Work on a new ambulance station in Great Notley, Essex, has officially begun. The first dig was made by Braintree District Council Chairman Lynette Bowers-Flint, Interim Director of Operations Neil Story and Vice Chair of the Trust Board Paul Remington, among other guests, on June 13. The new building on the Skyline 10 Business Park off the A10 will house a new Hazardous Area Response Team (HART) which is part of a national network. The specially trained team will respond to major and specialist incidents as well providing normal ambulance provision within the region. In the event of a hazadous environment such as a collapsed building, HART staff work alongside fire officers to access and treat the patient, ensuring they get the care they need from the moment they need it. A HART team is already based in Cambridgeshire. Councillor Bowers- Flint said: I am delighted that this new HART team is going to be based in Braintree, giving residents a specialist ambulance team on their doorstep. Trust Chief Executive Hayden Newton said: We are delighted to be developing this new facility in Current HART operatives join the dig team Braintree, which will enable us to provide an even better and more specialist health care to the local community and across the region. The new building should be completed in six months and fully operational in early 013. A tale of two Kamerons A baby boy delivered at home with the help of the ambulance service has met the call handler he shares a special bond with. Jennifer Davey and partner Vinesh Sabhar were sent home from hospital on Easter Monday because Jennifer wasn t dilated enough. When they got back home to Putnoe, Bedfordshire, Jennifer was having contractions four minutes apart: A big contraction came and I went to the toilet and my waters broke. Jennifer s sister Roxy called 999 and got through to call handler Kameron Iqbal at the Bedford health and emergency operations centre (HEOC). By coincidence he has the same name as the baby was given, although nobody was aware until days after he was born. In another quirk of the story Kameron has worked for the service for nine months! He has helped deliver three babies over the phone: I was quite scared and it s all surreal how quick it happened. It was my first call of the day and there was a bit of screaming going on. Vinesh also spoke to Kameron during the call, and with instructions from Kameron and help from paramedic Lola Arch, who arrived shortly afterwards, baby Kameron was born at 6.33am weighing 7lbs15oz. On April 5, Jennifer, Vinesh and baby Kameron met Kameron and Lola at the Bedford Office. Lola added: It was really nice to meet up with the happy family...it was a special moment for Kameron as he did all the work over the phone before I arrived. Kameron s manager Mindy Thomas said: Our team in HEOC are very proud of his actions on the day. He kept calm and was able to pass on the relevant information to successfully deliver the baby. The two Kamerons, Vinesh, Jennifer and Lola.

4 4 News Royal seal of approval for dedicated volunteers Volunteers in north-east Essex have received the highest royal honour for their commitment to helping to save lives. Manningtree First Responders will receive the Queen s Award for Voluntary Services - an equivalent of an MBE - for their work in supporting the East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust (EEAST) in their community. Community first responders are dispatched to life-threatening emergencies such as cardiac arrest at the same time as an ambulance. Because they live or work within a small dispatch area they are often the first to reach a patient and start giving life-saving help. The award was created by Her Majesty to mark her Golden Jubilee in 00 and recognises the outstanding contributions made to local communities by groups of volunteers. Glenn Young, EEAST s Associate Director for HEOC, said: This is a fantastic achievement for the Manningtree group, recognising the commitment and dedication of volunteers through responding to patients within the community and supporting neighbouring groups. It is a pleasure and a privilege to be involved with such dedicated first responders. Members Matters We re delighted with the news that we re on the next and final round of assessment for foundation trust status. As Lesley mentions in this month s executive introduction, it s been a long process and one which a lot of people have put a lot of hard work into. We re very grateful also to the ongoing support by members, and buoyed by the fact more and more people want to join every month. This support was also in evidence during our first ever exclusive members engagement event. Held at the end of May at Ipswich Town Football Club s ground, it was a great chance for visitors to learn more about how a 999 call is progressed, how to save a life, how to perform first aid, and to look around an ambulance. Members also had the chance to have their blood pressure taken, meet some community first responders A word from Kevin and representatives of the East Anglian Air Ambulance charity, and were also asked to take part in a poll for their opinions on how we spend our money and what their expectations of the service are. I really enjoyed meeting our local members and we received good feedback about the breadth and quality of information available on the day. The next event is planned at our Cambourne HQ on July 5, to coincide with the Trust s annual meeting - see page 6 for more details. We hope to see some of you there and a formal invitation will be making its way to local members. Kevin Risley, Membership Manager

5 Governor elections Non Executive Directors (including the Chairman) 4 Executive Directors Chief Executive Finance Director Medical/Dental Practitioner Registered Nurse/Midwife 1: Bedfordshire : Cambridgeshire Board of Directors 13 Public - Elected 3: Essex 3 Chairman 4: Hertfordshire OCTOBER Would you like to be a governor? Now that the final assessment phase is underway, the Trust s attention is turning to governor elections. This is to help ensure the Members Council - which staff, volunteer and public governors will sit on - is set up in time and a strict timetable has been drawn up to ensure the process follows legal milestones for a fair election. At the end of 011, the Trust s Chair Maria Ball went on a regionwide tour to meet FT members who wanted to learn more about being a governor. An FAQ is also available on the website giving details about what to expect from the role. What follows are a series of FAQs about the elections and about becoming governor. shows the proposed structure of the Council. The governors do not undertake operational management of the foundation trust but a number of formal (statutory) duties will include supporting and providing challenge to the Board of Directors, helping the Board develop the Trust s strategic direction, and represent the interests of Trust members as a whole and the interest of the public. Who is running the election? UK Engage has been chosen to run the election on behalf of the ambulance service. When is the election? The election is scheduled to take place between September 5 and What is the Members Council October 18. The Council will include 4 governors, and GOVERNANCE the chart below STRUCTURE: EAST OF ENGLAND AMBULANCE SERVICE NHS FOUNDATION TRUST 5: Norfolk 4 Members Council 18 6: Suffolk 5 Stakeholders 1 PCT (Lead Commissioner) 1 East of England Local Government Association 1 AGE UK 1 MIND How do I tell the Trust I want to nominate myself as a governor? You will receive a postcard in mid July, giving you contact details for UK Engage. If you make contact with its election team you will be sent a nomination form. This is made up of a 50-word application and submission of a photo. How long do I have to make my decision? Anyone nominating themselves for election will have until September 10 to apply. The Notice of Election will be published in July, along with mailouts to members. When will we know the results? The count and verification will take place on Friday, October 19 and the declaration of the resultwill follow shortly. 1-3 Executive Directors Constitution includes provision for other Executive Directors Class A: Emergency Operations 6 Staff - Elected Class B: Primary Care & Scheduled Transport Services 1 Class C: Support Services 1 Class D: Volunteers By invitation of the Board of Directors 1 Charitable or Voluntary Partnership Organisation

6 6 If you would like to meet the staff involved in setting the Trust s strategic direction, why not attend the Trust s Annual Public Meeting in July? Held at the Trust HQ in Cambourne at pm on July 5, the agenda will include a presentation of the Annual Report and Accounts for 011/1, together with presentations on clinical innovations progressed by the Trust in the last year. A number of stalls will also be set out as part of the member engagement event so visitors can learn more about the work of the ambulance service and talk to staff about the organisation and how it is moving forward. Light refreshments will be available after the meeting. Copies of the agenda and the Trust s Annual Report and Accounts for 011/1 will be available at the meeting. Alternatively, visit The address is Cambourne Business Park, Cambourne, Cambridgeshire CB3 6DN. Healthy perspectives Sharing clinical best practice and exploring patient care were high on the agenda at a second ambulance service event. The East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust s (EEAST) clinical summit attracted key speakers and experts in the field of pain and patient care, as well as presentations from Trust staff in their area of expertise. More than 100 delegates including EEAST staff and healthcare colleagues took part in the event at Hinxton Hall near Cambridge on Thursday, June 14. Organisers including the ambulance service s Consultant Paramedic John Martin built on the foundations of last year s summit by continuing the debate about clinical practice, with the main theme concentrating on pain management. Chief Executive Hayden Newton opened the summit by focusing on education and training and praised staff for their work in the field. At the lectern, Dr Jane Quinlan from the British Pain Society discussed the relationship between the ambulance service and the Society, and pain relief treatment (pictured right). Professor Pat Schofield from the University of Greenwich discussed her findings when she worked with older people on the subject of pain, and encouraged staff to consider the needs of their older patients. Other presentations focused on cardiac issues suffered by drug users and updates from clinical general managers about the work of clinical champions. Workshops about trauma care, clinical triage, and dignity were held and delegates visited stands set up by Trust departments and visitors including the College of Paramedics. Medical Director Dr Pamela Chrispin closed the summit by saying the hard work of clinicians out on the road meant the service could continue to improve patient care and experience. She added: I was so impressed by the day and felt it was a wonderful opportunity to meet staff who put their clinical work really at the heart of what they do. John said: The focus on pain has been one of our key priorities which included the publication of our book Pain: an ambulance perspective earlier this year. To have Dr Quinlan and Professor Schofield speak on the subject demonstrated how much we want to learn more about this area of patient contact and their contributions were really valuable to the whole debate. We felt really positive about the day; positive about the people we work with wanting to improve their skills and knowledge, and about how much we can do to make the service the best it can be.

7 Keep in touch... During the Foundation Trust application, you ll be updated with the latest developments about an ambulance service which works hard to improve patient care and clinical excellence to give the right treatment in the right way. We d really like your feedback on the topics covered in this issue of Connect, what you d like to read about in the future, and how well informed you feel from this update. You can give feedback by: ing ftmembers@eastamb.nhs.uk writing to the FT Team, East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust, Hospital Approach, Broomfield, Essex CM1 7WS. Please also visit which has more news about the Trust - family and friends can also join as a member on-line. You can read news and leave comments on the EEAST Facebook page (type East of England Ambulance Service into the Search tool) - please Like the site, as we re trying to build up as many followers as possible! Remember - it s important you keep us up to date with any changes to your personal details (change of address etc.) so that you don t miss out on future communication from the Trust. If you need help with accessing any documents, call

8 East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust Ambulance Headquarters Cambourne Building 100 Cambourne Business Park Cambourne CB3 6EB Tel: