Chief Executive Officer’s Report - November 2024

Meeting: Trust Board – Public Meeting

Date: 6 November 2024

Report Title: Chief Executive’s Report and Regulatory Update

Agenda Item: PUB24/11/1.6

Author: Liz Cunnell – Chief of Staff

Lead Director: Neill Moloney – Chief Executive Officer

Purpose: Information noting

Link to CQC domain:

• Responsive
• Well Led

Link to Strategic Objective:

• Be an exceptional place to work, volunteer and learn
• Provide outstanding quality of care and performance
• Be excellent collaborators and innovators as system partners
• Be an environmentally and financially sustainable organisation

Link to Strategic Risk:

• SR1a: If we do not ensure our people are safe and their wellbeing prioritised, there is a risk that we will be unable to attract, retain and keep all our people safe and well
• SR1b: If we do not ensure our leaders are developed and equipped, there is a risk that we will not be able to change our culture, and value, support, develop and grow our people
• SR2: Failure to achieve continuous quality improvements and high-quality care delivery
• SR4: Failure to deliver an efficient, effective and economic service
• SR5: If we do not clearly define our strategic plans, we will not have the agility to deliver the suite of improvements needed
• SR6: Ability to ensure sufficient capacity and capability to ensure sustainable change

Equality Impact Assessment: No negative impact identified

Recommendation: The Board is asked to note the report.

Purpose: To provide an update from the Deputy Chief Executive to the Board of Directors on the activities of the Trust since its last meeting.

Operational Improvement Plan (OPIP):

Response times for C1 and C2 patients have deteriorated in September and October which correlates with an increase in demand for our services and a circa 50% increase in hospital ambulance delay in October. EEAST co-hosted a Regional Winter Risk meeting in mid-October to discuss a collaborative approach to improvements and a shared approach to managing the risks for patients in the community as demand increases for all health services.

The Trust continues to focus on the key areas which provide greatest opportunity for performance improvement and efficiency. This review has been aligned with the Organisational Improvement Plan (OPIP) to maximise the potential for performance recovery.

The key areas of focus are as follows:

• Increasing Hear and Treat rates
• Reducing the Job Cycle Time
• Providing the right care first time – utilising care pathways in the community to avoid hospital admission.

More detail on our performance will be shared later in the agenda.

Regulatory Update

Monthly meetings have now been diarised with Regulators which focus on Finance, Category 2 segmentation, EEAST’s role in UCCH development and Category 2 performance.

In addition, the forum is being utilised to agree joint approaches to hospital handovers.

Freedom to Speak Up

A full report for the FTSU Guardians follows on the agenda. This highlights that the FTSU leads, Kym and Dani, have organised a comprehensive engagement plan across the Trust as part of Freedom to Speak Up month in October. This has resulted in an increase in the number of cases for the month of October, and this data will be reported at the next Board meeting.

Raising Concerns Forum

The Raising Concerns Forum met on 02 September 2024. The following provides the highlights and discussion points from the meeting:

• Employee Relation case numbers have continued to increase since January 2024. The People Services team have conducted multiple analysis exercises and believe that the increase is partly related to people feeling more confident to speak out and report issues.
• The team are placing a strong emphasis on mediation services and encouraging our people to utilise these resources.
• Overall, there has been a decrease in the number of sexual harassment cases.
• The new FTSU Guardians attended the meeting and provided an update.

The next meeting will be held on 04 November and a verbal update can be provided in addition to this update.

Winter Vaccinations

In October, the Trust launched a winter vaccination programme. We are encouraging all our people to get vaccinated for Flu and COVID to stay well and prevent passing it on to family, friends, colleagues and patients. Both vaccines are available to all our staff and volunteers at local clinics.

Engagement

Very sadly we lost a long-serving colleague in Norfolk on 23 October 2024. Mike Sibley, a paramedic from Central Norfolk, lost his battle with cancer last month. He will be greatly missed by his colleagues. Our thoughts are with his family, colleagues and friends. We are all extremely grateful for his years of service and contribution to our patients.

Southern Ambulance Collaboration

The Southern Ambulance Services Collaboration (SASC) met on 14 October with the agenda focused on three priority areas:

• Develop shared SASC procurement capability to attract the best suppliers, purchase the highest quality products and services at the best price and provide a Return on Investment (RoI).
• Identify and develop two to three cases of AI technology in EOC to improve patient care and support staff wellbeing.
• Develop an optimal model for a double crewed ambulance (DCA).

Our Head of Procurement is working with the alliance to ensure our views are incorporated. The alliance are keen to establish a national standard for fleet in partnership with the Northern Alliance.

Celebrations

NHS Parliamentary Awards 2024

I am delighted to announce that Ronald Ridge, Community First Responder and Heartstart Instructor received a Volunteer Award from the NHS Parliamentary Awards. This is an exceptional achievement but well deserved following a 20-year career as an EEAST Community First Responder. He has given many thousands of hours of his time to cover his local community in Brentwood and attended many hundreds (if not thousands) of patients, improving their clinical outcomes. Initially setting up as a Heartstart instructor under the British Heart Foundation (BHF), Ron ran many teaching sessions free of charge in the South Essex area. He expanded his reach through his network of contacts in his Community First Responder volunteering circle, meaning even more people could learn this life saving skill; between 2012 and 2019 his network of instructors trained 50,836 people in basic life support, all at no cost to the individual

Ron was integral in the setting up of EEAST Heartstart. His previous skills and knowledge have been vital in creating a cohesive, functioning and well-governed education programme that is now being rolled out across all six counties in the East of England.

Along with congratulations for this incredible award, I would like to offer a huge thank you to Ron on behalf of the organisation for everything he has done for our patents and communities.

Specialist Mental Health Vehicle

A specialist electric mental health response vehicle is helping to reduce hospital admissions in North East Essex.

EEAST introduced the latest electric vehicle for a specialist mental health scheme, run in collaboration with Suffolk and North East Essex Integrated Care Board (ICB) and Essex Partnership University Foundation Trust (EPUT), on 30 September.

The scheme is aimed at improving the response to patients with mental health needs and has so far helped patients avoid more than 600 hospital admissions.

Staffed by EEAST ambulance clinicians and a mental health advanced nurse from EPUT, the vehicle operates seven days a week between 2pm and 2am. When needed, the specialist crew can triage patients over the phone when they do not require a physical response.

Bury St. Edmunds Hub

EAST has officially opened the new multi-million pound ambulance hub in Bury St. Edmunds.

Robert Rous, Vice Lord-Lieutenant of Suffolk, opened the hub on Friday 27 September 2024 in front of invited stakeholders and partners, including Peter Prinsley, the MP for Bury St. Edmunds and Stowmarket.

The Hub has space for 33 ambulances with a fully integrated vehicle repair workshop and vehicle preparation area to support the frontline operational team.

This integrated design of the hub will help patients by increasing the amount of time crews are on the road.

Staff wellbeing is at the heart of the design, with the aim to create a work environment that attracts and retains the highest calibre of staff. The building includes a quiet room, a multi-faith room, a nursing room, a gym and outside wellbeing spaces for relaxation and exercise.

The facility has been designed to support the Trust’s net zero carbon ambition, making it the most sustainable and lowest carbon site in the Trust’s estate.

Police Force Partnership

Officers from Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, and Hertfordshire (BCH) police forces have helped restart the hearts of over 100 people thanks to a voluntary cardiac arrest alerting service, utilising the GoodSAM app. In partnership with EEAST, the service works by automatically triggering alerts when a 999 call is recorded as a possible cardiac arrest. These alerts sound on the mobile phones of first aid trained officers who are logged into GoodSAM and are within 800 metres of the incident.

Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire police forces are the first in the UK to have integrated GoodSAM for cardiac arrest alerts. Over 500 police colleagues across BCH have responded to alerts to date, many of whom have administered life-saving CPR.

Stars of EEAST

I was delighted in my first month at EEAST to be able to attend the Stars of EEAST awards ceremony. It was great to meet so many talented staff and celebrate our successes. A huge congratulations to all those nominated and successful for an award.

Engagement

I am committed to spending one day each week travelling around the organisation meeting with our people, listening to ideas and getting to know the patch. Thank you to all those I have met for the very warm welcome. I have visited the following stations:

• HART Melbourn, Southend, Martlesham, Ipswich, Bury St Edmunds, Bedford EOC, Kempston, Ampthill, Greenstead PTS, Colchester, Ipswich UECC, Longwater, Brentwood, Harlow, Stevenage, Watford, Hemel Hempstead
• MTA Exercise with HART

Given the extensive political changes across the region, I have also been meeting a number of our MPs to share information and build relationships. I have met with the following MPs:

• Essex MPs, Mid and South Essex ICB Chief and Essex Acute leaders, 13 September
• Blake Stephenson, MP for Mid Beds
• Richard Fuller, MP for North Bedfordshire
• Mohammad Yasin, MP for Bedford
• Clive Lewis, MP for Norwich South
• Peter Prinsley, MP for Bury St. Edmunds

Stakeholder follow-up

I have had a follow-up meeting with our people who were part of the stakeholder process for my recruitment. I am grateful to all those who attended and look forward to meeting again in the next few months. The following requests were agreed:

• To attend the Staff Partnership Forum – these are now planned in the diary.
• Share more good news stories from patients – this feedback has been provided to our communications team.
• Establish effective leadership briefings – these are in the diary and are based on subjects raised by our people. The first meeting has been held and a schedule for the next few months has been planned.
• Engagement with ICBs – have co-chaired a regional risk meeting and am meeting with ICB CEOs in the coming month. This will continue to be a priority.