Ambulance service sets out improvement focus
Tuesday, 01 April, 2014
More staff and better ambulances are being guaranteed in the region to "making strides" in improving the care patients get.
Chief Executive Dr Anthony Marsh has set out the East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust’s (EEAST’s) plan to drive improvements in performance and patient care.
The performance improvement action plan, ratified by the Trust Board, has been developed to deliver urgent transformational change and sets out six priorities.
- Recruit 400 student paramedics in 2014/15
- Train up emergency care assistants to become emergency medical technicians (EMTs), and EMTs to paramedics
- Maximise clinical staff
- Reduce reliance on response cars and increase ambulances
- Speed up the fleet and equipment replacement programme
- Reinvest back-office funding into frontline delivery.
Dr Marsh said: “This plan is already making strides but in a very straightforward way and addressing some very obvious issues. It sets out exactly how, and when, we are going to deliver service improvements.
“I am pleased with the progress we have already made - the first student paramedics will start their training in April, we have reduced the number of frontline staff on secondment, launched the first courses to train up our staff and are in the middle of rolling out new ambulances.
He continued: “These actions are and will make a real difference to supporting our staff to help them care for their patients and we are starting to see the time patients have to wait for us reducing.”
Since EEAST launched its paramedic recruitment campaign in January it has received more than 3,000 applications. The first group of students will start their training on the 7th April and will be working on the front line by the end of June. Courses will run throughout the year with the final group of students starting their training in January 2015.
The full plan is available at: http://www.eastamb.nhs.uk/Performance/performance-improvement-ace existing ambulances.
