Transcript WRB - 23 Dec 2014 - North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust

Issue RB244 – 1231214
Issue 164 – 23 December 2014
Welcome to the Weekly Regional Bulletin which is issued every Tuesday and designed to make
sure staff have regular access to all key Trust information in one place.
If any staff members have any comments or feedback they would like to share with the team,
please feel free to get in touch by emailing: [email protected].
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL NWAS STAFF!
The Trust would like to thank all staff for all their hard work over the past 12
months and wish all staff members a very happy Christmas!
We would also like to recognise those members of staff who will be continuing to
work and provide a quality service to the public, despite the pressures we are
facing currently, over the festive period. There will be many people across the
region who will be truly grateful for your help and expertise in their time of
need.
As this is the final Regional Bulletin of 2014, the Trust would also like to wish
you and your families a very happy New Year. We’ll see you all in 2015!
Please note, the next edition of the Weekly Regional Bulletin will be
issued on Tuesday 6 January 2015 and will be issued weekly thereafter, as normal.
WINTER ACTIVITY AND SURGE IN CALLS
As you will be aware, there has been an unprecedented surge in the volume of 999 calls to the
service in the last couple of weeks.
Ahead of the festive period, the Trust has been issuing messages to the public urging people,
particularly party-goers, to drink responsibly whilst enjoying themselves and to think before they
dial 999, only calling on the ambulance service for life threatening incidents.
The Friday before Christmas – ‘Mad Friday’ as it’s traditionally known - always sees a spike in
emergency calls being received by the ambulance service and this year, between the hours of 6pm
Friday 19 December and 6am Saturday 20 December, the Trust received 1,967 calls.
The Trust is seeing a rise in our more serious, life-threatening calls. Although there is an increase in
all types of calls, we are seeing a particular increase in more serious 999 calls which are lifethreatening or potentially life-threatening.
Between 15–21 December 2014 the Trust attended 10,199 Red incidents and during 1–21
December 2014;
 999 calls were up by 15% compared to this time last year.
 Red incidents up by 25% compared to this time last year.
The rise in activity has naturally created unprecedented amounts of media enquiries local and
national, including the BBC shadowing staff on the road and at Parkway EOC from which footage
was shown on BBC news and supported by reports on BBC Radio 3 and 4.
HAYDOCK PROJECT UPDATE
Work is continuing to progress well at the
new fleet site in Haydock.
The kitchens are being fitted at present
and the tiling in the locker rooms and
toilets is nearly finished. The walls have
had a first coat of paint and the project is
starting to come together.
The Steelwork to from the stairs to the
first floor is also being fitted and some additional welding is required on site. Contractors for the
‘fit out’ of the workshop have been on site and are progressing to ensure timely completion of the
project alongside the handover of the building to NWAS.
Whilst most of the building work had now ceased for the Christmas period, there are a number of
critical dates ahead in 2015 and staff will be updated in future editions of the Regional Bulletin.
*WEEKLY EBOLA UPDATE*
Name/Sector
Date
VHF(EBOLA)
PROCEDURE UPDATE
Time
Venue
NWAS has released a revised version of the VHF (Ebola) Procedure which contains an update for
Phil Howcroft - West
Thursday, 12
hours
Highfield Station
the
communications team.
To view this update18:00
procedure
please visit:
September 2013
https://intranet.nwas.nhs.uk/directorates/service-delivery/emergency-services/ebola/.
Patrick McFadden -
Thursday, 10 October
18:00 hours
Salford Station
Mike Hynes - East
Thursday, 14 November
2013
18:00 hours
Rochdale Station
The
UK has so far:
Central
2013
 Supported 882 treatment beds, more than tripling Sierra Leone’s capacity.
 Provided facilities to care to up to 8,800 patients over 6 months, as well as shoring up the
country’s stretched
public health services
to help contain the disease.
Annemarie Rooney Thursday, 13 February
18:00 hours
Sharston Station
South
2014
 Delivered the 12 bed treatment unit for national and international healthcare workers in
Kerry Town be expanded
to 20 beds.
The first treatment
centre,
which will have capacity
PARAMEDIC
EMERGENCY
SERVICE
(PES)
for 80 local patients, opened on 5 November.
 Trained over 4000 health workers, working in both UK-funded ETCs and across the national
response.
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 Deployed 800 Defence Personnel including RFA Argus with 3 Merlin helicopters deployed to
Sierra Leone to help establish treatment units and a dedicated Ebola training facility.
 Delivered over 1,450 tonnes of essential equipment on 48 DFID aid flights into the country.
 Doubled the number of burial teams in Freetown – and providing twenty more across the
country. Now burying almost 95% of reported deaths nationwide.
 Matched the first £5 million of donations from members of the public to this Disaster
Emergency Committee appeal, waived the VAT on sales of the Band Aid single and matched
funded donations to UNICEF raised up until the 8 December 2014.
PATIENT TRANSPORT SERVICE (PTS)
PTS – AUTOMATIC PLANNING TRIAL
Due to unforeseen circumstances, the PTS planning team have been unable to get the correct
infrastructure in place to commence the trail of live automatic planning for the Lancashire area,
which was originally planned for testing in mid-December.
It is hopeful that the work required will be completed by mid-January at which time testing live
planning should commence. In the meantime, work will continue in the background cleansing the
database and preparing the CAD.
NEW PTS INFORMATION LEAFLET TO BE LAUNCHED
As part of the PTS public awareness campaign, GoPTS, a new style, ambulance-shaped PTS
information leaflet has been created. The leaflet contains all PTS contact details, and answers the
following questions:




Can I use the Patient Transport Service?
How do I make a booking?
What can I expect from my journey?
Will I be able to use the service again?
These leaflets will be distributed to hospitals and GP surgeries in the near future.
PARAMEDIC EMERGENCY SERVICE (PES)
Name/Sector
Time
Venue
URGENT
NOTICE REGARDINGDate
CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS
IN AMBULANCES
Please can all crews be advised to kindly not place tinsel or Christmas decorations around the
Phil Howcroft - West
Thursday, 12
18:00 hours
Highfield Station
radio or sat nav equipment
as it may interfere with the safe working of the equipment.
September 2013
NEW
PatrickAND
McFadden
FORTHCOMING
Thursday,
‘MESSAGE
10 OctoberIN A 18:00
BOTTLE’
hoursINITATIVES Salford Station
2013
ACentral
‘Message in a Bottle’ is
a simple, but effective, way to encourage
people to keep personal and medical details, which can be accessed
Mike Hynes - East
Thursday, 14 November 18:00 hours
Rochdale Station
quickly and easily in an emergency, in a common location such as the
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fridge.
Annemarie Rooney South
Thursday, 13 February
2014
18:00 hours
Sharston Station
PARAMEDIC EMERGENCY SERVICE (PES)
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The container is typically green and white (please see example right). Two labels are provided,
which the patient will stick on the inside of the front door/main entrance to their home with the
other on the front of their fridge.
Features and benefits
 Quick and easy access to critical information/baseline observations in the event of an
emergency call.
 NWAS clinicians know that a care plan is in place when they go to a patient’s house.
 Supports clinical assessment on-scene.
 Superior engagement with the patient’s lead healthcare professional or GP.
 Benefits anyone with a care plan or long term conditions, including the most vulnerable
people in our community.
 Quickly confirms any specific healthcare needs, allergies or special medication etc.
 Provides peace of mind for user and their friends and family.
Current ‘Message in a bottle’ initiatives across the North West
There are currently two initiatives across the North West, which are utilising the message in a
bottle:
Tameside - Within Tameside, healthcare professionals are rolling out individual care plans for the
top 2% of all patients (amounting to approximately 5,000 patients) from the beginning of 2015.
NWAS clinicians will know if a care plan is available by looking for a sticker placed on the main
entrance within the property when attending, and also via a second sticker placed on the
household fridge. An alert will also be placed on ERISS, so that moving forward, crews can be
alerted to the presence of a care plan, at the patient’s home address.
Wigan - Within Wigan, NWAS has implemented a message in a bottle initiative, for patients with a
DNACPR in place. Again, NWAS clinicians will be made aware of the existence of a DNACPR at the
property, on route via ERISS and upon arrival, via a sticker at the main entrance to the property
and on the household fridge.
Please refer to clinical information bulletin CI345 ‘Do not attempt cardio-pulmonary resuscitation
(DNACPR) and North West Regional DNACPR policy update’.
NHS 111
WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THE NWAS NHS 111 SERVICE?
LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT
NWAS NHS 111 would like to invite NWAS staff to come and join us at the Middlebrook Call Centre
to find out a bit more about what happens behind the scenes and what we do as a service. If you
are interested, please email: [email protected]. Staff must either visit outside of
shift/working day or seek permission from their direct line manager before visiting.
LIVERPOOL HOPE UNIVERSITY FEEDBACK
Following the recent outbreak of a couple of Meningitis cases at Liverpool Hope University and the
resulting action, the university has expressed some comments in relation to the action taken by
the 111 Service which we would like to share:
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NHS 111 Helpline: The provision of this service was exemplary, the speed at
which the service was set up and the capacity provision available was praised
by all members of the incident team. In this incident, relatively few people
actually called the service, however as this was the first time this facility had
been used, it was an invaluable learning process for all involved.
Alison Relph, 111 Clinical Quality and Performance Lead, says: “111 is continually proving itself to
be a high performing, valuable service and with an ever increasing demand, staff are working their
hardest to keep the service going, comments such as these illustrate the good work we do every
day.”
Well done 111! Keep up the good work!
CHRISTMAS MESSAGE FROM DAVID BUCKELY, ACTING HEAD OF 111 SERVICE DELIVERY
I would like to take this opportunity to wish you and your families a very Happy Christmas and to
wish you all the very best for 2015.
Can I also thank you all for all of your hard work, commitment and dedication during the past year,
were we have collectively delivered an exceptional service for the general public of the North
West.
We are currently experiencing significant pressures on the service at this time of year, with call
volume exceeding our planned expectations, this is not in isolation and these pressures are being
experienced right across the country.
Despite these pressures both the Carlisle and Middlebrook staff have maintained their focus and
commitment and continued to deliver a clinical safe service for those patient who get through to
us, so well done and please keep up all of the hard work.
COMMUNITY RESUSITATION TEAM NEWS
CARDIACSMART AWARDS DECEMBER 2014!
On 17 December 2014, the Trust held its fifth
CardiacSmart event at Bolton Wanderers, Macron
Stadium, Bolton.
The event recognised individuals and organisations,
who have dedicated time to raising awareness and
promoting heart health, defibrillators and basic life
support across the North West.
On the day, guests included schools, Community First
Responders, North West organisations and a number
of survivors.
NWAS Chairman, Mary Whyham opened the event,
before handing over to the Community Resuscitation
Team and NWAS Chief Executive, Bob Williams to
present the awards.
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There were 32 winners from across the region,
Including; Network Rail Manchester Piccadilly Station,
Wirral Council and Blackburn Rovers Community Trust.
Children from the school of a previous CardiacSmart
winner were in attendance on the day and took part in
a short reconstruction to show that anyone can learn
basic life saving skills.
The Trust also took the opportunity to present
recipients of its Life Saver Award – which recognises members of the public who have made
outstanding efforts to save the life of a person suffering a cardiac arrest, with a number of
suriviors present on the day.
The event was a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the achievements of those that work with the
Trust in making the North West a safer place. To find out more about CardiacSmart, please visit:
http://www.cardiacsmart.nwas.nhs.uk/.
LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT
SEASON’S GREETINGS FROMLEARNING
LEARNING AND
ANDDEVELOPMENT
DEVELOPMENT
The Learning and Development Team would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and we
look forward to working with you in 2015.
REPORT YOUR APPRAISALS VIA THE INTRANET!
A total of 123 appraisals were reported in November and to
make it even easier for you – you can now report your completed
appraisals via the NWAS intranet site:
https://intranet.nwas.nhs.uk/directorates/hr-organisationaldevelopment-directorate/learning-anddevelopment/performance-appraisal-development-review(padr)/report-your-completed-appraisals-here!/
Or click here:
If you have any questions relating to appraisals, please contact
[email protected].
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FULLY FUNDED DISTANCE LEARNING COURSES ARE
BACK!
The steps you need to take are below, but first, choose your
course – all nationally accredited Level 2 Certificate courses:
 Principles of Dementia Care
 Mental Health Awareness
 Working with Individuals with Learning
Disabilities
 Understanding the Safe Handling of
Medicines
 Dignity and Safeguarding in Adult Health
and Social Care – NEW
 Principles of the Prevention and Control
of Infection in Health Care Settings
 Equality and Diversity
(revised)
 Care and Management of
Diabetes
 Nutrition and Health
 Understanding End of Life
Care
For further information on the areas covered, take a look at the flyers here. Places are allocated on
a first come, first served basis. Simply express your interest by emailing the following information
to [email protected] by Friday 30 January 2015:




Name
Home address (including post code)
Contact number
Which course you’re interested in (only one course can be undertaken at any time).
What happens next?
 Your details are sent to CAS Training.
 The allocated college will post induction paperwork to you.
 You complete the paperwork and return it to the college.
 The college post the workbooks/assessments to you, along with
submission dates.
 As the course is distance learning, you complete the work in your own
time and submit your work directly to the college (by post or email).
 The college return your assessments to you within four weeks.
 Each course takes around 13-17 weeks to complete, with a four week deadline for each
assessment.
 Once you’ve completed all assessments, and your work has been marked and moderated,
your certificate is posted directly to you.
Important information: If you choose to enrol on a course you must commit to completing the
programme of learning. If you do not complete once you have been sent the materials a charge
will be levied upon you (around £120 depending on the allocated college) to cover costs. Only sign
up for the course if you agree with the terms and conditions. Progress reports will be provided on
all learners to the L&D Team.
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Listen to what staff had to say about the courses:
“The distance learning course was easy to enroll upon, the learning pack itself
was simple to follow, and support was easy to access by phone or email with
replies quick to return. I have not done learning of this type for some years
but found it easy to manage around my shifts and the knowledge gained
useful, improving my patient care and understanding of the patients every day
needs when managing their diabetes.” – EMT1
If you require any further information please don’t hesitate to contact Lisa Tyndall at Ladybride on
01204 498 400.
HR UPDATE
NWAS COMMUNITY NEWS
ATTENTION ALL CLINICAL REGISTRANTS
The Trust’s procedure for checking the registration of clinical staff has been reviewed by the
Trust’s joint policy group and Executive Management Team, and updated.
All clinical registrants (paramedics, nursing and medical staff) are reminded of their responsibility
to remain professionally registered, and to ensure that any changes to their personal information
(name, address, direct debit bank details etc.) are notified to the regulatory body.
The Trust undertakes checks of the regulatory body registers and any staff found to be deregistered would be unable to work in their contracted roles until re-registered, and could be
subject to a formal investigation.
The procedure is available on the Intranet in the ‘standards of behaviour’ section of the HR Portal
at:
https://intranet.nwas.nhs.uk/directorates/hr-organisational-development-directorate/hrportal/standards-of-behaviour/.
HR HUB
The HR Hub is currently responsible for supporting recruitment and selection within the Trust, as
well as carrying out activity relating to ESR and the documentation that relates to any changes.
As part of a long-term plan for the Hub, the Team has been considering feedback on the services it
provides from a range of individuals who come in contact with the Hub, including colleagues
within the wider HR Team, corporate and operational colleagues, as well as successful and
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unsuccessful applicants to the Trust. The Team has used this feedback when recently reviewing
the processes used within the Hub. One priority for the Team is for there to be clear
documentation for the Hub and managers to refer to, so that there is consistency in the
transactional HR activity that takes place across the Trust.
Staff working within the HR Hub are based mostly at Elm House in Liverpool, with one member of
the team working from Whitefield in Manchester, and can be contacted on 0845 112 2018. All
emails relating to recruitment issues should be sent to: [email protected]. All emails relating
to ESR issues should be sent to the new: [email protected] address. The relevant email
address for ESR forms is already on the bottom of each ESR form at this time.
Please note that ESR forms and associated addresses will be amended in the New Year; staff will be
informed in the Regional Bulletin at that time.
FIXED-TERM CONTRACTS
As part of the development of the HR Hub, the Team would like to inform managers that the
guidance relating to the management of fixed-term contracts has been reviewed. Managers can
access the guidance on the Manager’s section of the HR Portal. The letters used as part of the
process have also been updated and can be found in the guidance. The Hub will continue to
support managers by making contact with them well in advance of a fixed-term contract being due
to expire.
Any queries about the management of fixed-term contracts should be addressed to the HR Hub in
the first instance.
NWAS COMMUNITY NEWS
STAFF COMPLIMENTS
NWAS COMMUNITY NEWS
The Trust regularly receives staff commendations from the general public and
partner organisations. At the end of every month, we share with you quotes
from just a few of the many complimentary letters, emails and cards received
across all areas of the Trust over the previous few weeks, praising staff for
their hard work and dedication.
A patient in the Lancashire area who suffered a facial injury emailed to say:
“I’m fully aware that people are quick to criticise the NWAS but not to praise their dedication. I
would like to praise the two paramedics that attended to me, I couldn’t have asked for a better
team, despite high demand they showed no sign of stress, just a genuine concern.”
A patient from the Lancashire area emailed to say: “Thank you very much for attending to my
concerns and anxieties with such a calm and professional manner, your instructions and rapid
diagnosis together with plain explanations of my condition was immensely reassuring.”
The husband of a patient in Cumbria wrote in to say: “The gentleman arrived ahead of the
ambulance and whilst all three operatives were excellent, it was the action of the sole paramedic
that I would bring to your attention. Not only was he polite, courteous, efficient and informative
and I believe central to saving my wife, but he also took the time out later that evening to phone
the hospital to enquire after her and to send his best wishes which I am sure is above the normal
call of duty.”
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A patient from Cumbria involved in a riding accident emailed to say: “I would like to pass on my
appreciation to the crew as I have been informed by people who were there that they worked
brilliantly.”
A relative of a patient in the Merseyside area wrote in to say: “The point of this letter is simply to
highlight the fact that your colleagues showed great consideration for both the patient and for us,
the family. Their behaviour was exemplary, good humoured and certainly a credit to their
prefession. Plus, with not a hint of irritation or frustration, they tolerated our indecision with
patience and tolerance and this beyond their hours of duty. We were all, my sister, my wife and I,
very impressed while it could have been most uncomfortable for us had we sensed any annoyance
or disaffection.”
A special card was sent in from a patient in Merseyside to thank the crew who came to her aid:
“I would like to thank the ambulance crew who attended [to] me, they were so kind and
considerate making sure I kept my dignity.”
A patient in her 90’s from the Greater Manchester area wrote her compliment in the form of a
poem which said:
The day has started with the usual props,
As I staggered about with various stops,
Clothing myself with trembling care,
Safely seated on my chair.
Breakfast eaten, I did try,
But the valued time passed by.
And suddenly, I heavily fell,
With a loud and noisy yell,
I lay, stunned and still,
And I sure felt ill.
I lay for hours trying to ring the phone,
And realised how I was so alone.
Then I finally contacted the phone,
Someone answered, I was not alone,
And friendly voices filled my ears,
And I lost most of my fears.
And finally Nathan and Tracey came,
And wonderful help to me did give,
I shall thank for life to them,
As long as I live.
If people spent their life,
As these wonderful people do,
Hunger, fear and strife,
Would never break through.
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PANDAMEDIC VISITS CHRISTMAS CARD COMPETITION WINNERS
The winners of this year’s NWAS Christmas Card competition enjoyed visits from Pandamedic this
week after their pictures were turned into e-cards and sent to thousands of people across the
country.
Sean Mattocks, age 10, who goes to
St John’s C of E in Burnley created
the winning design in his age group
(7 -11). Little Leo Wells, aged 3, from
Harrison Day Nursery, Wallasey in
the Wirral was the winner in his age
group (1 -6).
Pandamedic presented them with
their winner’s prize which included a
trip to their local ambulance station
to see behind the scenes!
STAFF DONATE TO LOCAL FOOD BANK
Staff from Elm House have donated bags of food to the North Liverpool
Food Bank for Christmas.
The donated item, which included a whole range of food and household
items, has been delivered to the Food Bank and will be distributed to
those people in need in the local community over Christmas.
Jenny Helbert, PA to Head of Service, who led the donation, says: “It
has been a huge success and we have had lots of people coming
forward with food to help. I would like to thank all staff who have
donated to those less fortunate and will be looking to do something
similar in the New Year.”
COMMUNITY NEWS
HAVE YOUR SAY ON MANCHESTER CITY COUNCIL’S EXPECTED BUDGET CUTS
COMMUNITY
NEWS
Are you a staff member living in Manchester?
If so, the
following may affect you.
Manchester City Council (MCC) is expecting to have to make £59million worth of savings in
2015/16 rising to around £90million in 2016/17.
One of the areas potentially affected by this is the Children and Young People's services and MCC
is suggesting stopping:
 Cardiovascular Disease Education in Secondary Schools (ORCS (Opportunities for
Resuscitation & Citizen Safety) workshops).
 Child accident prevention (ELFS (Early Learning for Safety) workshops for parents/carers,
workshops for children and activity books) and (I.M.P.S. (Injury Minimization Programme
for Schools) hospital visits).
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To have your say on the Council's budget options on the Children and Young People's Services, you
can visit: www.manchester.gov.uk/budget<http://www.manchester.gov.uk/budget.
The consultation ends on 26 January 2015. Further information on the above projects can be
found at: www.cmft.nhs.uk/education-and-training/health-educationinterventions<http://www.cmft.nhs.uk/education-and-training/health-education-interventions.
ST JOHN’S HOSPICE CHRISTMAS TREE COLLECTIONS IN LANCASTER
If you are ever left wondering what you are going to do with your
Christmas tree after the festive period, then for a minimum £5 donation,
St John’s Hospice in Lancaster will come will collect it for you.
The Hospice will collect from the following areas in Lancaster: LA1, L2,
LA3, LA4, LA5, LA6, LA7, LA8, LA9, LA22 and LA 23.
Collections run on 9, 10 and 11 January 2015, so to request a collection
call 01524 382538 or book online at: www.sjhospice.org.uk/recycletrees.
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