This Week WILLIAM and KATE MEET WMAS STAFF
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Issue 262 Thursday 25th August 2011 V Festival 2011 Garage Doors and Shorelines This Renew Your Registration HCRT Here to Help Week 2012 Olympic Games Chairman Receives Award WILLIAM AND KATE MEET WMAS STAFF The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge visited Birmingham last week...page 2 Got a story? Tell the Press Office on 01384 246 496 or 07909 528 550 or email [email protected] Top Stories Page 2 Jobs Page 12 Operational Page 4 SN/030 Page 13 Non Operational Page 7 SN/035 Page 14 News Page7 ON/059 Page 15 Noticeboard Page 10 V Festival Page 16 WMAS Staff Meet Duke and Duchess of Cambridge Several members of WMAS staff were amongst the guests that met the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge last week when they visited some of the areas of Birmingham that were affected by the recent rioting. James Williams (Incident Support Officer), Katherine Hall (Paramedic) and Darren Roberts (Trainee Technician) were amongst a range of dignitaries who met the Royal couple at Summerfield Community Centre in Winson Green. Earlier, William and Kate met the families of the three men who died during the disorders. Derrick Campbell, a community leader in Sandwell, said: “The couple said they were „genuinely concerned‟ about the rioting. It wasn't tokenistic, you could sense the genuine emotion that they showed and I think that really went a long way to reassuring us that these people really do care about what took place here." Chief Executive Officer, Anthony Marsh, said: “I am really pleased that some of our staff who were on duty during the rioting had the chance to meet William and Kate; it was a real morale boost. The couple were very appreciative and acutely aware of the hard work and dedication our crews delivered during the recent rioting, dealing with some very difficult situations at times.” Not Too Late to Nominate Trust Chief Executive, Anthony Marsh, is renewing his appeal for staff to nominate colleagues who went above and beyond the call of duty during the recent disorders in the West Midlands. The Chief is to host an Awards Ceremony to recognise the actions of staff at an event on Friday 30th September at the Birmingham Council House. Mr Marsh said: “Having seen first hand some of the actions of staff, I feel it is important that as a Trust we recognise the excellent care that was provided during some very difficult times. I would like to thank these individuals personally for what they have done to protect lives within our communities. We have already had a large number of suggested recipients, but I want to make sure that we pay tribute to everyone who did so much. If you believe one of your colleagues fits this category, please let me know.” If you would like to nominate a colleagues for a Chief Officers Commendation please e-mail the Chief‟s Staff Officer at [email protected] setting out the reasons for the nomination. 2011 V Festival Almost 200 members of WMAS staff, doctors and nurses worked alongside St. John Ambulance and Venture Event Medical Management at this year‟s V festival. The festival which ran from Thursday 18th – Monday 22nd August was one of the busiest to date with the 85,000 festival goers enjoying the weather at Weston Park. Carol Taylor, Venture Event Medical Management, said: “On behalf of all the team at Venture I would like to say a BIG THANK YOU to you for another excellent successful V Festival. Without your support and services you provide prior to and on site over the weekend V would not be the success it is today. Your team didn‟t disappoint, they were professional, mad (in a good way!) and gave 100% in what was a very busy and demanding weekend.” Barry Thurston, Director of Service Delivery, said: “I would like to thank staff for all their hard work and dedication which once again led to an extremely professional and successful operation. You all did an excellent job.” (Please turn to the back of the briefing to view this year‟s special V Festival bulletin). 2 Six Recommendations for Six Years ‘Taking Healthcare to the Patient’ was published in 2005 and introduced a period of significant change and improvement in all ambulance services, including the creation of WMAS. Six years on, the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives have reviewed progress and published an updated report. The key findings are: Major advances in patient care and the clinical education and training of staff Greater attention to the many patients who don‟t have a life -threatening condition Consistently high patient satisfaction levels Significant improvement in the speed of answering 999 calls Considerable improvements in technology, infrastructure and emergency preparedness Trust Chief Executive, Anthony Marsh, said: “Whilst much has been achieved, all of the ambulance trust chief executives recognise that there is still much more to do. The new report provides six recommendations for the next six years, starting with more visible clinical leadership. The six recommendations are on pages 75 to 78 of „ Taking Healthcare to the Patient 2’ which is on the intranet. You can download the document via the intranet link: http://treble9.ad.wmas.nhs.uk/ idoc.ashx?docid=5f582549-7ef0-471d-ab7b-ca2b297f12ee&version=-1 or go to “Communications”, “Weekly Briefing”, “Weekly Briefing Attachments 2011”. GWAS Explores Partnership Great Western Ambulance Service (GWAS) is exploring the possibility of partnering with another organisation as the best way of becoming a Foundation Trust. GWAS has decided that it is not viable to pursue it‟s own application and wants to link with a partner organisation. Chief Executive, Martin Flaherty, said: “All NHS trusts are facing need to become more efficient whilst at the same time improving patient care. We are committed to clinical excellence and have decided that the best way to deliver this is to become part of a larger organisation - our preference is for a partnership with another ambulance trust.” GWAS borders three other ambulance trusts: South Western, South Central and West Midlands. Ken Wenman, Chief Executive of the South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We have expressed an interest in partnering GWAS. We have already attained Foundation Trust status and are closely linked geographically, so it is logical that a partnership between the two is considered. It is however, an expression of interest only at this stage.” Make Your View Count – Come and Meet the Chief The Trust is committed to listening to the views and suggestions of staff. To ensure all staff have the opportunity to make sure their thoughts and suggestions are heard, Trust Chief Executive Anthony Marsh will be undertaking a series of visits to stations through the summer months. Mr Marsh said: “It is really important to me that I get a chance to hear the views of staff on a regular basis about their daily work; their concerns and ideas about how we can take patient care to the next level. Over the last year or so we have started to make some significant changes to the way we operate so that we can make further improvements to our clinical practice. I would really like to hear your views on how these are affecting the way you work and to find out how we can further improve the Service. If you would like me to visit your station, please e-mail me at [email protected]. Thank you for all the work you are doing and I look forward to meeting you. Equality Delivery System Gets Underway A new equality delivery performance working group met for the first time last week to introduce the Equality Delivery System (EDS) to the Trust. The EDS has been designed by the NHS as a framework improvement tool to support the Trust in driving up equality performance and embed a clear vision for a personal, fair and diverse health and care service into all areas of WMAS. The EDS will also support the Trust in meeting the equality aspects of the NHS Constitution, the NHS Outcomes Framework, Care Quality Commission‟s Essential Standards, and the Human Resources Transition Framework. WMAS Equality and Diversity Officer, Sofia Jabeen, said: “The EDS project is an NHS Equality and Diversity Council initiative, supported by the Department of Health. It will be a key project for implementation by April 2012. The Trust is committed to the EDS through the active involvement of staff, public and community organisations in setting objectives and monitoring of performance for equality.” Further information on the EDS project will be available in future editions of the Weekly Briefing. 3 Renew Your Registration! Time is fast running out for paramedics to re-new their registration with the Health Professions Council (HPC). All paramedics must have completed the process by Wednesday 31st August. Failure to renew registration as a paramedic will mean you are unable to practice anywhere in the United Kingdom. This will have implications for your continued employment with the Trust. As it can take up to ten days for postal forms to be processed, it is suggested that staff use the new on-line system which has real-time renewal and payment facilities. The HPC says it will only take on-line registrants a few minutes to complete the process. Don‟t risk getting caught out, make sure your renewal is in place as soon as possible. Restricted Access to Warwick A&E On Tuesday 30th, Wednesday 31st August and Thursday 1st September, there will be structural work taking place at Warwick Hospital, particularly around A&E and also the A&E access road.