Caring | Team work | Professionalism | Innovation

- EXPERIENCES LIFE AS A PARAMEDICNOV/13

4 PETER ANDRE EXPERIENCES LIFE AS A PARAMEDIC

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12 HSJ EFFICIENCY AWARD

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BORDON 999 EMERGENCY SERVICES DAY

FAREHAM EMERGENCY SERVICES DAY

2213,121public members

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TRAUMA LEVEL: ONE

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18 TWEET TWEET

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16 WHAT PEOPLE SAY ABOUT US

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING & ANNUAL MEMBERS MEETING

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FT REVIEW & MEMBERSHIP

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PETER ANDRE EXPERIENCES LIFE AS A PARAMEDIC

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PETER ANDRE EXPERIENCES LIFE AS A PARAMEDIC

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Last month, Peter Andre presented a series of programmes on ITV’s This Morning live from the Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth.

The week of programmes celebrated 65 years of the NHS and as well as talking to patients, clinicians and nursing staff across the hospital, Peter also spent time in the A&E department.

Cameras covered a night shift in A&E that was uncharacteristically quiet and followed a lower than normal number of people arriving on their own, and in ambulances, with a variety of cuts, sprains and dislocations.

During his week of filming at the hospital Peter went out with SCAS paramedic Lewis Meale in a Rapid Response Vehicle. He spoke about the experience of travelling at speed through red lights and the nervous tension he felt about not knowing what to expect on arriving at their destination.

He also spoke to SCAS paramedic Alec Shepherd about his frontline experience, the occasional violence and harassment that emergency personnel can suffer whilst treating people, as well as the impact the nature of the job can have on the paramedic staff themselves and how they cope with this.

You can see the A&E edition of This Morning in full here http://shows.stv.tv/video/2666420883001/

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IF IN DOUBT

CALL

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hen her partner Stephen began displaying some asthma like symptoms after having had a cold all week, Vickie didn’t think too much of it. After all, she thought, Stephen has had some undiagnosed respiratory problems for a few years and the asthma symptoms he was experiencing over the weekend were similar to ones that had come and gone in the past.

By Sunday evening however, Stephen was beginning to struggle with his breathing, finding it hard to talk and was virtually unable to walk from one room of their home to another.

“We both tried to remain calm”, remembers Vickie. “We thought that with a good night’s sleep and some rest, he’d be fine again in the morning. Stephen had used an inhaler in the past which we couldn’t find, but as he has not been diagnosed with asthma he does not have a repeat prescription and so late on a Sunday evening we thought there was nothing to do but wait and see how he was the following morning.”

Reluctant to call 999 with what they thought wasn’t an emergency, Vickie and Stephen agreed to call 111 around midnight as Stephen was really becoming quite unwell.

Vickie explains what happened next:

“The person I spoke to was very calm and after answering a few questions, he said he was sending an ambulance out to us right away. Within a few minutes Paul and Zoey from SCAS were here and it became clear we should perhaps have called 999 hours before!”

Paul and Zoey began treating Stephen, explaining at every stage what was going on, and reassured Vickie that she had done exactly the right thing to get in touch with the ambulance service. Despite the couple being reluctant to call 999 because they felt there were more urgent cases that might need an ambulance, Paul and Zoey explained that the system was able to differentiate between incidents that required one and those that didn’t, so if in doubt, call.

“We are really grateful to have such fantastic people working for our local ambulance service”, concludes Vickie. “Paul and Zoey were really friendly and helpful – even telling Stephen exactly how to go about getting an emergency appointment at our local GP the following day for necessary medicines and tests. I’m just really sorry I completely forgot to offer them a cup of tea for their troubles!”

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Brass and Pipe & Drum bands, a wide range of emergency vehicles and personnel, a visit from the Army Bomb Disposal Unit, exciting displays, interesting stalls, a bouncy castle, coconut shy, refreshments and fun family competitions made the inaugural Borden 999 Emergency Services Day on 15 September one to remember for the hundreds of visitors.

The event was opened by the Mayor of Whitehill and Bordon councillor, Tony Muldoon, who having dispensed with the ribbon cutting formalities was then given a guided tour of the event by SCAS Ambulance Technician Paul Wingate, and introduced to exhibitors and stall holders.

A highlight of the day was the 999 Tug of War Challenge pitching Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service (HFRS) against a crack team from SCAS. Lulling the HFRS team into a false sense of security by losing the initial ‘tug’, SCAS demanded a ‘best out of three’ addition to the competition – and then proceeded to win the next two pulls!

BORDEN 999 EMERGENCY SERVICES DAY

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Unfortunately the heavens opened at 3pm which brought the event to an end slightly earlier than planned and ruled out the planned cavalcade of vehicles that was scheduled to close the day at 4.30pm. Despite the weather, feedback from visitors was very positive and over £200 was raised.

Organiser Paul Wingate, said:

“This was the first event of this kind in the army town of Borden and I’d like to say a big thank you to everyone who helped make it happen and all those that came to see us on the day. We hope this will become an annual event and are already planning on making next year’s bigger, better and hopefully dryer!”

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SCAS WINSEFFICIENCYAWARD

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At the end of last month, we were delighted to win the award for Efficiency in Transport and Logistics at the prestigious Health Service Journal (HSJ) Efficiency Awards.

The awards identify and reward organisations that have delivered tangible improvements in healthcare efficiency and cost savings, whilst continuing to maintain the highest levels of patient care.

SCAS was shortlisted against five other trusts in the Efficiency in Transport and Logistics category. At a ceremony hosted by TV Star Rob Beckett at The Grosvenor Hotel, London, and in front of over 800 healthcare professionals, SCAS was announced as the category winner.

Our success was the result of our Solar Panel Power on Rapid Response Project. We placed solar panels on 35 rapid response vehicles (RRV) enabling a greener and more innovative way to power the secondary battery on RRVs which provides power to all emergency equipment on such vehicles.

As well as reducing fuel consumption, battery replacement costs and the Trust’s carbon footprint, the project also means that RRVs no longer have to return to base to recharge their emergency equipment batteries.

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HSJ EFFICIENCY AWARD

What others say about us

Berkshire

Oxfordshire

Hampshire

Buckinghamshire

They were efficiency personified and so very good. Touched that one of them came back to see my daughter at the hospital to see if she was alright as she had been so distressed.

They were a perfect example of professionalism in everything they did. Their kindness and consideration was superb. You should be very proud to be employing such excellent staff.

I just wanted to offer a few complimentary words about the paramedics who attended to me, I collapsed at work and they were comforting and reassuring that I immediately felt better, they were in a word brilliant, they offered advice to me in such a charming and friendly way that I felt I just had to let someone know what great people you have working for you.

A big thank you for your excellent help and reassurance. I was very frightened and you arrived quickly, did a really thorough check and were very calm, pleasant, friendly but professional. How wonderful we have such excellent service!

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Hampshire

Buckinghamshire

Oxfordshire

Berkshire

I had to call 111 this morning for medical advice and I was very impressed with the service I got, very kind staff answering the phone and a very efficient outcome.

I want to thank the 3 amazing ambulance people who came to my son’s rescue; I would like to tell them what heroes they are and I will be forever grateful to them.

Sadly the patient died later in hospital but I wanted to pass my thanks and those of his wife for admitting him; we are grateful for your help. (From GP and patients wife). Thank you for their

professionalism, tact, humanity and being calm, and effective; reassured my mother who was devastated. Grandma died – but because of you she died later surrounded by her family. Thank you for treating her and my mum as if they were your family.

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A Sunday evening last month I went into a serious episode of anxiety – emetophobia (a phobia of vomiting) – as I began to feel sick. When it occurs I am often able to manage it myself, but in extreme cases it can cause me to self-harm; and just such an extreme case hit me suddenly that Sunday night.

Unable to take the prescribed medicine I have to help manage my emetophobia I knew I needed immediate help or I was in danger of doing serious damage to myself. So I called 999.

The person who took my call was very calm and very supportive – and they stayed on the line to help me until the ambulance arrived. The crew that arrived – one male and one female paramedic – again treated me with amazing respect and calmness, demonstrating empathy and understanding of my condition. They were extremely skilled at using distraction techniques to help bring the situation under control and repeatedly offered reassurance that I wasn’t wasting their time.

So often mental health issues are met with stigma and lack of understanding, but the SCAS crew and call handler that night were incredibly accepting and non-judgemental. I would like to personally thank them for their care and compassion – it was the standard which every medical professional should aim to be giving!

SCAS WERE THERE WHEN I NEEDED THEM MOST

My name is Michelle. I have a long-term and complex physical and mental health history and I live alone. So when things go wrong, they tend to go wrong in a big way and I have to rely on my local 999 emergency services.

All I can say is, thank goodness for SCAS.

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SCAS were out in force at the Fareham 999 day on Saturday 19 October, giving families in South East Hampshire the chance to come and find out more about their local ambulance service.

This annual event, now in its fourth year, not only gives adults and children the chance to get up close and personal with their local emergency services, but it also enables all the services to educate the public in a more friendly informal manner about topical issues. As well as SCAS, local Police and Fire crews were in attendance, along with HM Coastguard, the Royal Navy, Police and our good friends at the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance.

Amongst our representatives on the day were Chrissy Jenkins (Technician), Scott Jenkins (ECA), Jeff Newbold (Team Leader), Tim Webster & Liz Hurrell (Paramedics), along with the Fareham Community First Responder group, and one of our Governor representatives Alan Tottle.

As you might expect, the kids love the vehicles and we didn’t let them down, with appearances from an Ambulance, a 4x4, an RRV, a Mini, and one of our motorbikes. Children and adults alike enjoyed being able to sit in the vehicles and our responders gave excellent CPR demonstrations with the help of our ‘Little Annie Manikins’.

It was a great day, and despite the weather was a fantastic chance for us to talk with the local community about the services we offer, and demonstrate how the local community can help us and each other.

We can’t wait to be a part of the fifth annual event next year…

SCAS OUT IN FORCE ATTHE FAREHAM 999 DAY

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South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust, your local ambulance service, has set up a patient forum for patients, members and local organisations to hear about our plans and give views on local health services. SCAS launched this new initiative at our Wendover constituency meeting on Tuesday 3rd September and it is keen to get as many members and non-members involved across our four counties (Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Hampshire and Oxfordshire). These patient forums will provide a stronger link between the trust and their members and improve communication by keeping the local people informed of any changes and gathering feedback on existing services.

Key role of our patient forums: » Enable members and non-members, in particular

those who are (or have been) patients to have a say on how the trust operates

» Support the trust in providing a high quality of care and service delivery by helping with various activities such as conducting patient surveys and offering views on proposed new services.

The next meeting will be held in Hampshire:

TUESDAY 3 DECEMBER

Hampshire Patient Forum

Hampshire County Council,

Winchester, Elizabeth II Building

MAKE SURE YOUR OPINION COUNTS!G

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To book your place in Winchester, please email the Membership Office at getinvolved@scas.nhs.uk.Alternatively please ring 01869 365126.

BUCKINGHAMSHIRE RESIDENTS:If you would like to join our Buckinghamshire Patient forum - please contact the Membership Office on the above number or email.

Trauma: Level OneStaff at SCAS were involved in the recent two-part documentary, Trauma Level 1, that was broadcast on ITV1 in September. Filmed over a seven-week period, the documentary crew gained frontline access to ambulance and air ambulance crews as they rescued seriously and critically ill patients across the South Central region.

The programme then followed the victims of car, cycle, motorbike and paragliding accidents from the scene of their injury, to transporting them to the major Trauma Centre at Southampton General Hospital and the start of their recovery.

Southampton’s major Trauma Centre is one of 12 across the country able to manage the most severely injured adults and children. The unit last year saw 355 patients with life-threatening injuries and a further 301 with life-changing injuries.

Earlier this year, NHS England reported that major trauma networks such as the one based at Southampton General Hospital, had resulted in a 20% improvement in survival for patients sustaining life-threatening trauma, resulting in around 1,000 lives saved.

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Can you help us at events?We have lots of events planned to engage with members of the public and’ sign up new Foundation Trust members and we need your help!

DATE EVENT VENUE

Fri 29 Nov 111 Roadshow - BanburyCastle Quay Shopping Centre, Banbury, Oxon. 10am - 4pm

Sat 30 Nov Newport Pagnell Christmas Lights 2013Newport Pagnell, Bucks. 12pm - 5pm

You can make a difference!

For more information, email getinvolved@scas.nhs.uk

or phone 01869 365126.

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13,121public membersto date

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@SCAS999

@SCAS999

NOV/13

TWEETTWEET

Here is a small selection of Tweets

that we have recently received

from our partners, stakeholders

and the public. Click here to read

more and to follow us!

vickiemason Sep 23 8:54am

big thanks to Paul & Zoey from @SCAS999 who helped us in the early hours of this morning #lovetheNHS

PunamS Sep 27, 2:58pm

@SCAS999 fully deserved winners of HSJ Efficiency in Transportation & Logistics Award (speaking from experience of using the service)

StressageDiva Sep 28, 9:27am

@SCAS999 thanks so much to the 2 lovely ladies who came out to my daughter in Ashford Hill last night, really grateful for the care shown x

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Follow us on Twitter @SCAS999www.twitter.com/SCAS999

griffybayor Sep 23, 10:35pm @Chapman_Lee @SCAS999 @WarrenMcCabe Dislocated knee at training - Pretty bad one too. Ambulance and co-response came quick

harpangel52 10:09am via @SCAS999 please thank the amazing crew (male&female) who helped me last night @ 8pm Winchester area. Shown such respect,care,understanding

BitterneRespond Sep 27, 7:41pm

Good Luck to @lxxxEMMAxxxl and @HardingNik who are taking their @SCAS999 CFR Training for Bitterne this Saturday and Sunday. Good Luck! #CFR

3551 followers

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On Wednesday 25th September, the Trust held its Annual General Meeting and Annual Members Meeting. This year, the location was at The Kassam Stadium in Oxford.

As well as reviews of the year from SCAS Chief Executive, Will Hancock, and Lead Governor, Melanie Hampton, visitors to the meeting also enjoyed a series of presentations around the theme of cardiac arrest and the work of teams across the Trust dealing with the impact of this.

Whilst most people automatically associate emergency services with road traffic accidents, in fact out of the more than 480,000 emergency calls we respond to each year, cardiac arrest accounts for roughly the same amount as major trauma road traffic accidents.

Professor Charles Deakin, Divisional Medical Director (Hampshire), informed the audience that survival rates for cardiac arrest are only around 5-10%, making it a larger cause of death than colon cancer, breast cancer and prostate cancer combined. For every minute after cardiac arrest that a person does not receive defibrillation, survival rates decrease by 10%.

In order to improve survival rates, SCAS has invested in training community first responders across our region. Gill Hodgetts, Head of Communications and Public Relations, introduced another Trust innovation that should help improve survival rates further.

SCAS, working in partnership with a volunteer developer, are designing a free App that will house a database of all automated external defibrillators (AEDs) across the region. Users will then be able to see instantly where there nearest AED is should they find themselves dealing with someone experiencing a cardiac arrest.

The App also provides details of how to effectively give hands-only cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and the day concluded with a demonstration of this from Derek Flint, Community Liaison and Training Officer.

The App is available now in the iTunes store. Simply search for AED locator UK.

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING &ANNUAL MEMBERS MEETING

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING &ANNUAL MEMBERS MEETING

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Screen grab of the AED locator app

in action

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The 10th series of Real Rescues is back on BBC1. SCAS has been involved with this documentary series for a number of years now and once again, the viewing public get to witness at first hand some of the dramatic day-to-day work our staff undertake.

The current series airs on BBC1 at 11.00am on Mondays and of course is also available on the BBC iPlayer.

REAL RESCUES RETURNS

All figures are provisional.

What does it mean?

Total activity equates to the number of calls which received a SCAS response or were dealt with by our clinical support desks Activity variance over the same period last year.

Non conveyance is the number of incidents we responded to where the patient was not taken to hospital.

Non conveyance % is the percentage of incidents we responded to where the patient was not taken to hospital.

Category A [Red 1] - indicates a performance target for an emergency response, which is categorised as immediately life-threatening, to reach an incident within 8 minutes from the time a call is connected to the ambulance emergency control centre. The national target is to respond to 75% of all these calls within 8 minutes.

How we’re doing

September 2013 Year to date

Total activity 39,400 Total activity 240,636

Activity variance 7.37% Activity variance 7.81%

Non conveyance 15,077 Non conveyance 93,085

Non conveyance % 42.63% Non conveyance % 43.05%

Category A [Red 1] 79.65% Category A [Red 1] 79.10%

Category A [Red 2] 78.15% Category A [Red 2] 76.29%

Red 19 96.15% Red 19 95.58%

111 calls answered 61,351 111 calls answered 384,728

Number of CFR responses 1,302 Number of CFR responses 8,836

Number of PTS journeys 33,776 Number of PTS journeys 228,034

Category A [Red 2] - indicates a performance target for an emergency response which may be life threatening but less time-critical. Calls should receive an emergency response within 8 minutes.

RED19 performance - indicates a performance target for a conveying response (ambulance or rapid response vehicle) to reach an incident of a life-threatening nature within 19 minutes from the time a call is connected to an ambulance emergency control centre. The national target is to respond to 95% of all these calls within 19 minutes.

111 calls answered is the number of calls answered through the non-emergency healthcare service.

CFR stands for Community First Responder.

PTS stands for Patient Transport Service.

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4 JULY

The Communications team is always keen to promote stories in Working Together. Please email any news, stories or comments to: communications@scas.nhs.uk

South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation TrustUnits 7-8 Talisman Business Centre Talisman RoadBicesterOX26 6HR

DEADLINE for copy for the next issue: 15 November.Please keep articles under 250 words.

15Nov

Design » Ben Hennessy - ben.hennessy@scas.nhs.uk