Trust Chair and Non-Executive Director Report - September 2024

Meeting: Public Meeting

Meeting Date: 10 July 2024

Report Title: Trust Chair and Non-Executive Report

Agenda Item: PUB24/07/1.6

Author: Mrunal Sisodia, Trust Chair

Lead Director: Mrunal Sisodia, Trust Chair

Purpose: Information noting

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

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: If we do not deliver operational and clinical standards then there is a risk of poor patient outcomes and experience
• SR3: If we do not ensure we have the ability to plan, influence and deliver across our systems to secure change, we will not be able to meet the needs of our public and communities
• SR4: If we do not resolve long standing organisational inefficiencies, we will be unable to deliver an effective, sustainable, value for money service to our public
• SR5: If we do not clearly define our strategic plans, we will not have the agility to deliver the suite of improvements needed
• SR6: If we do not deliver sustainable regulatory compliance and develop positive relationships, we will have limited ability to deliver our strategy

Equality Impact Assessment: No negative impact identified

Recommendation: Report for noting.

Purpose: To update the Public and the Board on Chair and Non-Executive Director activity since the last Public Board meeting in May 2024.

Executive Summary:

Report identifies:

• Key areas of Board focus since the last report.
• Key areas of Board focus in the coming months.
• Non-Executive Director additional activities providing wider assurance and Board visibility.
• Key activities by the Chair since the last Board in July.

Introduction/Background

CEO recruitment – Neill Moloney

I am delighted to introduce our new CEO, Neill Moloney, at this meeting today. Neill joins us after a rigorous recruitment process that was extensively co-produced with staff and stakeholders who were asked the question – “what do you want to see in your next CEO?”. This fed into the job description, selection process, interview questions and through staff and stakeholder panels.

Neill’s core mission over the next 18-months will be to deliver our three Board priorities – namely improved staff wellbeing and culture, improved C2 performance and better management of 999 calls through Hear and Treat and the hubs. He will continue to build on the work that has been done to improve staff wellbeing and experience; we have made great progress here but are under no illusions that we have changed and eliminated all the undesirable aspects of the culture here at EEAST. We have also made progress on the factors that underpin our performance such as fleet, patient facing staff hours, and leadership development. This work must be continued. Finally, this must all be translated into improved performance which is, after all, what the public of the East of England look to us for.

Performance improvement

A key focus of the Board and Committees over the Summer has been the development and implementation of our operational improvement plan. Performance has been a high priority focus for the Board over the last year: we reviewed Winter planning last Summer, we identified the need for better performance analytics and approved new technology tools in December which came online in February, we reviewed initial analytical findings through our work on connected planning in May and the findings from this have formed the four focus areas in the OPIP – maximising our patient facing staff hours, vehicle availability and management, job cycle times and the operation of unscheduled care hubs in conjunction with our partner ICBs.

Since the last Public Board meeting, we have further refined this plan and mapped clear timelines and deliverables. We have met with our regulators and lead commissioner to review the plan and ensure that they are bought in. We have also asked for external scrutiny and validation of the plan and have approached AACE and another ambulance service to support us with this work. This plan will be reviewed at operational, Committee and Board-level.

2030 Strategy work

We took an enforced pause in our engagement work for strategy development during the pre-election period although extensive work did continue behind the scenes. As with everything at EEAST, the Board have been keen to ensure that this has been coproduced with staff and stakeholders and I am delighted that there has been such extensive and insightful engagement. Progress, including work on our core values, is being presented at our development Board session on 18th September.

Freedom to Speak Up (FTSU)

EEAST has also launched its new FTSU service. Previously, we had employed our own FTSU Guardians but the Board made the decision that the next phase of our FTSU development would be best served by appointing an external FTSU provider. Despite genuine progress, not least a huge increase in the number of staff speaking out, our most recent staff survey highlights that we still have much to do: 49% feel safe to speak out and 34% think management would act.

On 5th August we went live with a new FTSU provider. This provides several key benefits: a more robust and resilient service with independent training, development and support for our Guardians; a tried, tested and structured methodology that puts the onus on managers, departments and the organisation to resolve and learn from FTSU incidents; 24/7 coverage and assurance of real independence.

I have met with the new provider with our FTSU NED, Catherine Glickman, and the Board will continue to prioritise FTSU and the elimination of poor cultural behaviours. I urge all of our staff to ensure they are familiar with the new service and use it when necessary.

Summer violence and riots

Finally, I am proud to say I was able to stand by colleagues who had been impacted by the violence over the Summer perpetrated by far-right groups. The EEAST BAME community came together to support one another, both in making sure that people and their loved ones were physically safe, and also to make sure they had some emotional support through a very challenging time. It says something that not only BAME staff attended these meetings but also staff from other ethnic and cultural groups as well as representatives from other staff networks. The sense of having allies and mutual support was one positive from a period of awful turmoil. It underlines how far we have come and that prejudice, bullying and harassment have no place in our service.

Staff and Stakeholder engagement

During a period of change of CEOs, one role of the Chair is to be visible with both staff and stakeholders. I have met with key external partners to give them clarity around how we are managing the key risks during this period.

In this vein, the NEDs and I undertook the following activities since the last Public Board meeting over and above our core Board, Committee and working group commitments:

Key Issues/Risks

N/A

Options

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