Patient and Public Involvement

We received 1,397,119 calls to our emergency operations centres (EOCs) last year which was 3,500 less than the year before, but still averaged over 2,881 calls a day.

We attended 754,460 incidents - caring for over half a million very unwell patients.

14% of these were categorised as the highest priority (immediately life threatening) and 58% were our second highest category (serious condition).

We are continually improving our services as a result of our patients experiences. Patients are at the heart of everything we do, and we understand the importance of learning from their voices.

During last year, patient and public involvement continued to develop our networks with local groups across the region.

This saw the co-production of a Young Peoples Mental Health Instagram survey and an Easy Read survey. These were co-produced with patients with lived experience, we are confident that the results of these surveys will support the Trust to further develop the way in which we support patients with mental illness or learning disabilities.

EEASTs co-production of the patient and public strategy last year was published as a case study of best practice within the new NHS Statutory Guidance for Working with People and Communities. The Trust continued to develop the ways in which we work to meet the needs of this dynamic strategy.

Our community engagement group (CEG) extended the reach of the patient and public involvement team.

Working with this group of volunteers enabled us to link with representatives of communities and those with an interest in the service across the region.

Members regularly attended strategic meetings with Trust staff and completed station visits and audits, suggesting ways the service could be improved for patients and the public.

Our patient and public involvement team and our community engagement group volunteers regularly attend Healthwatch meetings and other meetings of patient representative groups, including the citizens senate and patient participation groups. We have continued to expand our representation with other organisations and specialist groups across the region over the last year.

Face-to-face engagement events provided an opportunity to speak with the public about our services and gain feedback. This gave us an opportunity to hear from people who may not usually have contacted EEAST. Engagement with schools and community groups had been challenged during the pandemic. These visits gave EEAST the opportunity to talk to children about the correct use of the service, offer some first aid and CPR training and show children the equipment we use.

With COVID-19 restrictions lifting over the last 12 months, patient and public involvement activity increased, including work with community groups, Healthwatch, school visits and more. This was only possible with support from our colleagues and volunteers.

The graph shows the number and type of each engagement activity during 2022/23.

Our discovery interviews with patients supplemented our other feedback channels as a Trust. These interviews gave patients the opportunity to share their story in their own words on video. These were shown at public Board meetings and discussed by the Board.

Discovery interviews are used to support learning from complaints and serious incidents. Patient stories are a powerful learning tool for hearing the patient voice directly from them. We completed 19 interviews. The team has been developing ways to share interviews with colleagues in a meaningful way.

The development of the patient and public involvement strategy gave the community engagement group an opportunity to develop the ways in which members engage with the Trust and their communities.

The annual patient survey programme included surveys for emergency service/ emergency clinical advice and triage (ECAT) service and the patient transport service (PTS).

Surveys were designed in collaboration with the service/ clinical leads and
co-produced with experts by experience to ensure people and our community are treated as equal partners in service design, development, and evaluation.

All patient surveys included the national friends and family test (FFT) question, Overall, how was your experience of our service? as good practice.

The FFT is a way of calculating the overall satisfaction of the patient and is used as a benchmark across the Trust with results reported to NHS England each month.

Since April 2022, 1,375 patients have responded to the overall satisfaction question, with 89.6% of these patients rating their experience as good or very good.

Compliments always outweigh the number of complaints received, and in 2022/23, 2,702 compliments were received regarding our service, an average of 225 a month.

Compliments are reported to the Trust Board and to the individual colleague, with the local management teams copied in so that they can be acknowledged and recorded on the staff members personnel file.

"The presence of these two friendly people gave me confidence that they could make me feel better."

"I would like to thank both paramedics for their professionalism, their concern for my condition and insistence that I went to hospital to be checked over."

"Very positive, knowledgeable, friendly and professional including the trainee who attended with the team."

"I wanted to thank the crew that came out to me they were excellent. I couldnt fault them."

"I have got in contact via patient survey to say thank you to the crew that attended. Thank you for your patience and care."

As a Trust, we closely monitor the volume of complaints received, seeking any trends and themes to support service improvement and early intervention.

All complaints and concerns receive a full, evidence-based investigation. Responses to concerns raised by patients or their representatives are available in different formats, and face-to-face meetings are arranged where complainants need further support.
The number of reopened complaints remained very low, meaning that complainants are normally satisfied with our response to resolve their complaint.

Although complaints and concerns account for less than 0.07% of the contacts we have with patients, throughout 2022/23 we have seen clear themes through the complaints and concerns received from members of the public and their representatives.

There was focus on delays in sending an ambulance and occasions when we asked patients to make their own way to hospital. This was because of escalatory measures put into place by the Trust during sustained extreme pressures in the wider system. The Trust developed a clear action plan and worked with our system partners across the region to support patients as safely as possible
Following the release of our fully revised complaints and compliments policy at the end of 2022, consent requested must be received before the investigation can start.

Once consent has been received, this allows our investigators to contact the complainant/patient to discuss their concerns openly and share any initial findings, without breaching data protection regulations.

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