patients - South Central Ambulance Service NHS Trust

2First anniversary of SCAS becoming a Foundation TrustFriday 1 March 2013, was the 1st anniversary ofSCAS becoming a Foundation Trust (FT). A lothas happened in the last year, we have had somesuccesses and we have had some challenges andI would like to take this opportunity to thank youfor all your hard work to get us to where we aretoday, Thank You!Achieving the contracts for 111 in most parts ofthe SCAS area has been a real triumph. To havecontrol over both the 999 and 111 service willallow us the freedom to ensure that membersof the public receive the right care dependanton their clinical needs whether they are in anemergency or non-emergency situation./ February 2013SCAS has faced another challenging 12 monthsin the face of increased demand, tight budgetsand unpredictable weather, however we shouldbe proud of how we have managed to developour service. The NHS restructure has also meantthat we have had to look at just how weoperate. This has required reviews across theservice and although I know they are unsettling,the results have meant we continue to performto a high standard and that is credit to thefantastic hard work of staff, volunteers andpartnersDuring the last 12 months we have reallyfocussed on our progression as an FT,establishing and working with our newlyappointed Council of Governors (CoG) andachieving our target of gaining 12,000 memberswhich represent the diverse communities whichwe serve. I am really pleased to say that we havereached our membership goal for the year andwe look forward to continuing to work with theCoG and our members (both staff and public)across SCAS to help shape our services for thefuture. During this process it has encouraged usto look at ourselves as an organisation to assesshow others may see us and really ensure that welearn from the feedback we receive.We have a lot of challenges which will continueto confront us over the coming 12 monthsand we will look forward to striving to becomean even better service, taking on board therecommendations made by the Francis report,for example, ensuring that we continue to deliverhigh quality compassionate care.Thanks again for all your hard work, help andsupport.Will HancockChief Executive

4BerkshireHealthcareResearchCollaboration:CelebratingIndustry andNetworkingConnectionsCurrent clinical prototype/ February 2013On 11 January Helen Pocock (Education Manager, Research &Development) and Jodie Lea Philips (Emergency Services Manager,North Hampshire) joined 200 delegates from NHS organisations,academia and industry across Berkshire. The day provided anopportunity to explore research possibilities and find out aboutcurrent NHS research and innovation in the Thames valley region.One such project which has relevance to our practice was presentedby Dr. Dan Daly from Lein Applied Diagnostics. His company isexploring a BM monitoring device which is mobile phone sized. Thepatient looks into it and the meter measures optics to assess BM.This is non-painful, cheaper than current testing methods, moreconvenient and should ensure greater compliance of patients with BMmonitoring. Aqueous humour of the eye is assessed. This is formedfrom blood, has a similar composition and is a substitute blood supplyfor the cornea and lens. The refractive index changes with glucoseconcentration. During this project the team have demonstrated atRoyal Berkshire Hospital that blood glucose and aqueous humourglucose are significantly related.Congratulations KevinCongratulations to Kevin Charman who retired from SCAS at the endof last year having worked for the ambulance service for over 45 years.Friends and colleagues joined him to celebrate those fantastic yearswhich he shared with so many. Kevin spent time in various job rolesacross the service including an ambulance man, leading ambulanceman and Technician, however more recently he has worked on theNeonatal Intensive Care Transport Service which takes poorly babiesbetween hospitals.Mark Roberts, Emergency Service Manager at Portsmouth AmbulanceStation where Kevin worked said:“Kevin was a fabulous part of our team and he will be fondlymissed by all those people he worked with.”The next two years will be spent further refining the meter then it willtake two further years to obtain regulatory approval. You can readthe full report on the intranet in the Education and Training page.

5The Trust’s Non-Emergency Patient TransportService (PTS) employs 64 Contact Centrestaff based at Bicester in Oxfordshire and atOtterbourne in Hampshire. This is in additionto 343 operational PTS staff across the fourcounties of Buckinghamshire, Berkshire,Oxfordshire and Hampshire and 127 registeredvolunteer ambulance car drivers across the SouthCentral Region. Between April and December2012 PTS undertook 318,029 patient journeys.Ambulance Care Assistants (ACA) workingfor PTS provide transport for low to middledependency patients to and from treatmentcentre appointments. Anyone aged 18 yearsor over with a full UK driving licence, includingC1 entitlement with no more than 3 penaltypoints may apply to become an Ambulance CareAssistant./ February 2013A caring disposition, previous customer serviceexperience, knowledge of the Highway Code,the ability to map read and awareness of equalityand diversity in the workplace and communityare all desirable criteria for the role and academicqualifications may be required, dependingon role level. Ambulance Care Assistants aregiven training in basic life saving skills to thelevel of a Community First Responder and aresubject to an enhanced Criminal Record checkby the Disclosure and Barring Service. The roleaffords excellent career development prospectswithin SCAS’ Patient Transport Service and theopportunity to apply to the trust’s 999 front lineservice as an Emergency Care Assistant after 12months.

6We rode out with ACA crewsGary Gray and Sandy Taylor fromOxford City, Nicola Dyer and LynnBernstone from Stoke Mandevilleand Terri Davis and John Wattsfrom Winchester and EastleighResource Centre to discover whatthe role involves and what ourpatients think of the service./ February 2013Caring people caring for patients.Before joining the trust 12 yearsago 67 year old Gary Gray, whonow works 2 days a week, hadworked for 40 years for Rover,latterly as a Quality Specialist forBMW. Working as an ACA Garyhas learned a lot about First Aid.The job gives him a purpose andenables him to put a little back intothe community. As for some ofhis patients, he and his crew mateare the only people they see apartfrom their carers.Sandy Taylor, spent 22 yearsworking as an aircraft re-finisherbefore joining the trust 9 monthsago. He enjoys listening to olderpersons’ life stories and the banterhe gets from working with andreassuring them.Nicola Dyer and Lynn Bernstonesee their patients as people andnot just names on a journeyplanner. They have workedas ACAs for 8 and 18 yearsrespectively and enjoy being outand about seeing the seasonschanging, meeting new people andworking with different colleagues.John Watts used to be a liftengineer and has worked 3 daysa week as an ACA for the last3 years. Now semi-retired, heenjoys sorting patients’ problemsout. Terri Davis worked as a legalsecretary and bought her family upbefore becoming an ACA 13 yearsago.She enjoys the camaraderie therole gives her, being out andabout meeting people in the localcommunity she’d otherwise notmeet and the fact that no two daysare the same.The role of an ACA is not withoutits challenges. Dark nights, housenames, worried relatives andpatients returning to cold houseswith sometimes nothing to eat athome are just some of them, butthe rewards of being an ACA andmaking enduring friendships withstrangers yet unmet far outweighthem all.What our patients say...“My daughter used to take me to my appointments atthe Haematology Clinic twice a week, but they won’tallow her time off work to do this any more. I’mgrateful for the Patient Transport Service.”Cancer patient.“I have dialysis 3 times a week for 4 hours a time andcouldn’t get to my appointments without the help of thePatient Transport Service.” Renal patient.“You get to know the drivers. They’re a friendly,personable and reassuring crew and I’ve built a goodrapport with them. I appreciate them calling in advanceto ask if I’m going to the Day Hospital that day.”Mental health patient.“I’m so grateful for all you’ve done for me since mycataract operation in taking me to my Eye Clinicappointments.” Post operative cataract patient.

7You can make the difference!For more information, emailgetinvolved@scas.nhs.uk orphone 01869 365126.Hooray!Foundation Trust membershipCan you help us at events?We have lots of events planned to sign up new foundation trustmembers and we need your help!12,012public membersto date10,00012,000to be achieved by31 March 2013/ February 2013DATE EVENT VENUEFri 15 March SCAS FT Roadshow Hillier Garden Center,WinchesterSat 16 March Family Fun Day Milton Keynes Stadium(MK Dons)Tues 19th March Focus on Emergency Fleming Park, EastleighServices - HampshireHospitals NHS FTSun 24 March Family Health Fayre Elizabeth II Court,Ashburton Hall,Hampshire CountyCouncil, Winchester6,0002,000FOUNDATIONTRUSTMEMBERSThank you foryour supportmembers!

8Fleet update/ February 2013We are pleased to say that there have been anumber of developments occurring across fleetrecently and these are planned to continue overthe coming months.Rapid Response Vehicles (RRV) – 22 of the 37RRVs have now gone into Operations acrossSCAS, and the remainder are scheduled to golive into Operations by the end of March 2013.There has been a delay in the implementation ofthese vehicles due to deliveries from the supplierbeing delayed. The final 10 cars are beingconverted by an 3rd party approved supplierand these are due to be with us within the nextcouple of weeks.New Ambulances – All of the 20 vehicles havebeen delivered to the Mercedes Main Dealerwho are currently undertaking pre-deliveryinspections (PDI) before they are delivered intothe Vehicle Commissioning Unit in Hampshire.The replacement of the Vauxhall Movanos in theNorth will be the first phase and then the otherswill be spread between North and South.Operational staff in Berkshire will be in receiptof 7 new vehicles to replace old Ivecos andanother 7 vehicles will be heading to Oxfordshire& Buckinghamshire to replace old Movanovehicles. These vehicles are built to the NationalAmbulance Specifications with a change indesign of mainly the front blue-light warningsystem. This has been designed for aerodynamicsand therefore improved fuel efficiency.Van conversion project – we currently have 4long wheel based (LWB) Mercedes vans whichwe are having converted into ambulances topotentially undertake urgent-type work. Thecontract has now been awarded to a vehicleconverter and these vehicles will start beingconverted at the beginning of March with anestimated delivery end of April 13.A nationally draft agreed van conversionspecification has been drawn up, and variousTrusts including SCAS are having vehicles builtmainly around this specification to establishfuture suitability of this type of vehicle.Future vehicles (2013/14 Financial year): Fleet,Procurement and Finance departments arecurrently undertaking a review of the vehiclesrequired within the next financial year anddependent upon finances available, it is hopedthat we will be able to bring forward some ofthe vehicle replacement programmes. This willallow us to level out the peaks and troughs ofvehicles to be replaced and therefore will give usgreater reliability within the fleet.In addition a trial has commenced in the Northin which a mobile mechanic has been introducedto ease the pressure of VORs. This trial willbe evaluated after 1 month to establish itseffectiveness.

9/ February 2013SCAS LGBT NetworkExecutive committeenominationSouth Central Ambulance ServiceNHS Foundation TrustWe have been up and runningalmost a year now and the timehas come to officially nominateand fill the posts on the executivecommittee.Posts for nomination:»»Chair»»Deputy Chair»»Secretary»»Communications andmarketing executive»»Social and events secretary»»TreasurerIn order to make this fair andtransparent to everyone thefollowing process has been agreedfor anyone who wants to apply.»»Complete the nominationform available on the SCASwebsite and e-mail it toLGBT@scas.nhs.uk»»After the closing date allnominations will be sentto Ludlow Johnson (E&Dlead for SCAS) and SharonWalters (HR Director) – theywill make the decision asto who to appoint to eachrole. If more than one personapplies for a role they maycontact them to get furtherinformation to support theirdecision process.»»As part of the nominationprocess you will need towrite a short explanationas to why you want to beconsidered for the post,this should be less than 250words.»»You will be required to gettwo people to nominateyou for the position. Thesenominations can be anymember of staff within SCAS(either LGBT member or not)– Please confirm with thesepeople they are happy to becontacted to confirm thatthey have supported yourapplication.»»Only members of the SCASLGBT Network may applyfor positions on the Execcommittee – If you arenot a member please alsocomplete and applicationform and send it with yournomination form; formsavailable fromLGBT@scas.nhs.ukNomination forms should becompleted electronically and sentfrom your SCAS e-mail address toLGBT@scas.nhs.uk by midnight 24March 2013 – Any received afterthis time will not be considered.Any questions or queries relatingto this should be addressed toLGBT@scas.nhs.uk

10Ambulance Care Assistantsaves patient fromdiabetic comaOn 11 February Melanie Burns, who works as an AmbulanceCare Assistant for the Trust’s Patient Transport Service (PTS) outof Wallingford PTS station, was providing transport home for twopatients she had collected from appointments at a diabetic footclinic.Having dropped the first patient safely back at home Melanienoticed that the remaining patient, who had appeared to be fine andhad walked to the waiting ambulance after his clinic appointment,now appeared increasingly confused and disorientated.On arrival at the patient’s address Melanie helped him to his houseand noticed, after letting him in, that he was getting worse, sweatingprofusely and getting more confused.Melanie was concerned that as the patient was diabetic he may be goinginto a hypoglycaemic attack, but without a BM kit, she couldn’t be sure.All she knew was that she couldn’t leave him in that condition as there wasno one else at home to care for him./ February 2013Quick thinking Melanie rang Berinsfield Health Centre and was told tobring the patient straight in. So she went and got the wheelchair out of theambulance and, managing to lift him into it, took him straight down in theambulance. On arrival a GP took a BM and an emergency ambulance wascalled and the paramedic crew conveyed the patient to the John RadcliffeHospital, Oxford.Melanie was reassured by the Health Centre and paramedics that she had donethe right thing in getting the patient to the GP as, if he had been left at homealone, he could have gone into a diabetic coma.Melanie reported this incident to Diana Ball, Senior Operations Manager PTSRedesign Lead who added notes to the patient’s record to ensure that, in light ofhis experience, appropriate transport is booked in future to ensure his safety.

11What others say about usThank you so much, you are adelightPTSPTSBucksThank you so much to all thestaff who attended him over thepast years; it was great to knowyou were all there to help.I have enjoyed my journey homeHampshireMy husband fell and broke hiship, the ambulance crew couldnot have been kinder or moreefficient, they took us to hospitaland waited with us until myhusband was admitted, pleasethank them both.HampshireI cannot speak highly enough ofthe crew’s professionalism andthe care they provided. Theyexplained what they were doingand managed to stabilise my dadbefore taking him to hospital,the crew are a credit to SouthCentral Ambulance, I cannotspeak highly enough of theservice they provided.BucksI really do want to thank them –what a wonderful team they are,you have fantastic people in yourorganisation.OxfordshireThank you so much for being sopatient – you are a credit to yourorganisation./ February 2013I pride myself on being able tospot a great clinician at 100paces and all three of themdealt with me with the utmostprofessionalism and care; andcommend them for highlysensitive and proficient care – Ifelt in completely safe hands(received from a senior clinician)OxfordshireHampshirePTSYou are an angel, I thought Iwas going to be there foreverThanks to the crew for helpingme out when I crashed my bikenr Romsey yesterday, lovelypeople doing an amazing job.Thank you so much to all thestaff who attended him over thepast years; it was great to knowyou were all there to help.PTS

12Last November saw a number of the trust’s staff sproutingmoustaches in celebration of Movember, and in aid of charity. Afew of our Movember growers feature here (or should that be hair)with their face furniture, and our apologies for any omissions.Pictured are Andy Edwards (ECP Team Leader, Reading), ChrisBrooker (Bracknell CM), Tom Michels (Paramedic) and Matt Baille(Ambulance Nurse), Owain Curtis (Bicester EOC) and David Kehoe(PTS dispatcher)Congratulations to:Bicester Bristles:Derek Stuart, Andrew Edwards, Neil Beasley, Matthew Hillis, OwainCurtis, Maurice McGinlay, Rachel Smallman and David Flynn whoraised £1023.The “HART-MO’s” (HART blue team and hangers on):Rob Croton (Team Leader), Jack Ansell, Mike McVean, JonSkidmore, Jack McLellan, Colin Rotchell, Danny Windust & MikeFrancis who raised £185“Bracknell Boys”: Tom Michels, Chris Brooker, Matt Baillie & DerekPenn who raised: £603“The Mo-Mentalists, c/o Bletchley“: who raised £2,080 forcharity/ February 2013Others taking part included Ben Lawson (Abingdon CFR), AlexKing (Ambulance Technician Wycombe), Mark Ainsworth-Smith(Consultant Pre-Hospital Care Practitioner), and David Kehoe (PTSDispatcher, Southern House).

13Tweet tweetHere is a small selection of Tweets that we have recentlyreceived from our partners, stakeholders and the public.Click here to read more and to follow us!1906 followersFollow us on Twitter@SCAS999www.twitter.com/SCAS999/ February 2013

14Latest performance updateJanuary 2013Year to dateTotal activity 39,590 Total activity 382,550What does it mean?Total activity equates to the number of calls which received aSCAS response or were dealt with by our clinical support desksActivity variance over the same period last year./ February 2013Activity variance 7.91% Activity variance 6.37%Non conveyance 15,180 Non conveyance 146,985Non conveyance % 43.07% Non conveyance % 43.33%Category A [Red 1] 78.12% Category A [Red 1] 77.40%Category A [Red 2] 76.63% Category A [Red 2] 75.25%Red 19 95.69% Red 19 95.06%111 calls answered 14,178 111 calls answered 90,350Number of CFRresponses1,329 Number of CFRresponses12,812Number of PTS journeys 42,258 Number of PTS journeys 384,544These meetings are meetings heldNext meetings ( )in public, not public meetings27MARCHOur next Public Board meeting will be held on 27 March 2013Non conveyance is the number of incidents we responded towhere the patient was not taken to hospital.Non conveyance % is the percentage of incidents we respondedto where the patient was not taken to hospital.Category A [Red 1] - indicates a performance target for anemergency response, which is categorised as immediately lifethreatening,to reach an incident within 8 minutes from the timea call is connected to the ambulance emergency control centre.The national target is to respond to 75% of all these calls within 8minutes.Category A [Red 2] - indicates a performance target for anemergency response which may be life threatening but less timecritical.Calls should receive an emergency response within 8minutes.RED19 performance - indicates a performance target for aconveying response (ambulance or rapid response vehicle) to reachan incident of a life-threatening nature within 19 minutes from thetime a call is connected to an ambulance emergency control centre.The national target is to respond to 95% of all these calls within 19minutes.111 calls received is the number of calls received through the nonemergencyhealthcare service.15APRILOur next Council of Governors meeting will be held on15 April 2013CFR stands for Community First Responder.PTS stands for Patient Transport Service.For more information and to check the venue of the meetings, visit our websiteat www.southcentralambulance.nhs.uk or email company.secretary@scas.nhs.ukAll figures are provisional. For more information, email PerformanceInformationTeam@scas.nhs.uk

15We had 136 new starters in December and January joining as call takers,paramedics, PTS dispatchers, clinical advisors and much more./ February 2013Staff who have left SCASNameJob titleKaren GardinerHR AdministratorMarilyn OliverFinance AnalystJaqueline ForeyProcurement AssistantGeorgie SuttonPublications OfficerLinda HasaniDivisional Scheduling CoordinatorAlice DivallClinical Risk ManagerStewart McLarenAmbulance Care AssistantPeter CalcuttAmbulance Care AssistantBob IveClinical Risk ManagerKay GouldParamedicSusan AmorosoEmergency Care AssistantManfred NeedhamCall HandlerAlex AuchieAmbulance Care AssistantRichard ShawEmergency Care AssistantMatthew BrownEmergency Care AssistantAndrew JonesAsst Director of Service DevelopmentGeoff RunnallsICT TechnicianEmily WaltonParamedicLouise NewtonEmergency Care AssistantWilliam LindleyParamedicAndrew McEwanHead of ICT - System SupportSamantha HarkinEmergency Care AssistantAntony BeakCall HandlerDavid O'LearyEmergency Call TakerTressa StephensonOOH Call HandlerMD BrookerEmergency Call TakerHayley McKennaEmergency Call TakerKaren OliverEmergency Dispatch AssistantSascha MullenCSD Practitioner NurseFebruary 2013The communications team is always keen to promote storiesin Working Together. Please email any news, stories orcomments to: communications@scas.nhs.ukSouth Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust7-8 Talisman Business CentreTalisman RoadBicesterOX26 6HR15MARCaring | Team work | Professionalism | InnovationSouth Central Ambulance ServiceNHS Foundation TrustEnterDEADLINE for copy forthe next issue: 15 MarchPlease keep articles under 300 words where possibleDesign » Ben Hennessy - ben.hennessy@scas.nhs.uk