South Central Ambulance Service
NHS Foundation Trust
Wo rk
ing
toge
ther
SCAS HELPS DEMONSTRATE POTENTIAL OF 5G TECHNOLOGY
Winter Twenty Nineteen
Winter 2019
Fantastic team effort saves Darren’s life
Freedom To Speak Up Month
07
24 New ambulance fleet begins rolling out
12 Ambies 2019 winners
14
3
Restart a Heart Day
26 Community round-up
Safe Drive Stay Alive
30 Gold Star of Life Recipients
34
36
Winter 2019
SCAS helps demonstrate potential of 5G technology SCAS was approached by BT in October and invited to participate in a demonstration with University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (UHB) to demonstrate how BT’s 5G network could deliver medical services to a 5G-connected ambulance, combining virtual, augmented and robotic technology. This latest demonstration of BT’s 5G network was hosted at the Medical Devices Testing and Evaluation Centre in UHB’s simulation lab in its Institute of Translational Medicine on 15 November. Dr Tom Clutton-Brock, Clinical Director of the NIHR Trauma Management MedTech Co-Operative, in the simulation lab was able to assess and diagnose a patient remotely – viewing medical records, taking vital signs and ultrasound scans – from a 5G-connected ambulance provided by SCAS and crewed by Paramedic, Calum Stone, that was two miles away from the centre. The demonstration was given to an audience of healthcare professionals and representatives from the technology sectors of the media. The event comprised of two scenarios to highlight how the latest network technology could transform healthcare services and deliver significant cost savings by reducing the number of patient trips to hospital. In the first scenario, Dr Clutton-Brock – wearing a specially equipped virtual reality (VR) headset – was able to visualise exactly what Calum was seeing in the SCAS ambulance. Using a joystick, he was able to remotely direct Calum in real time to perform scans, as well as see close-up views of the wounds and injuries to the patient in the ambulance.
D r
Clutton-Brock was able to direct Calum through voice commands to look in a particular direction, or, in the case of a scan, sending control signals over the live 5G network to a haptic (robotic) glove that Calum was wearing. “The glove I was wearing would give me small vibrations that indicated where Tom wanted me to move the ultrasound sensor”, adds Calum. “Doing so, meant that he was able to control where the sensor went much more quickly and
5
more accurately than just using voice commands. There was no latency (or lag) in what Tom was seeing on the screen in the hospital and what I was seeing in the ambulance in real time.”
“In the future, this technology could help determine not only if we needed to take a patient to hospital or not, but also help decide which hospital or department they needed to be taken to through a more comprehensive and earlier diagnosis. In the scenario we demonstrated, the patient had a possible ruptured liver so it was essential to have got them to a major trauma
centre as quickly as possible.” The second scenario demonstrated how Dr Clutton-Brock was able to use the 5G network to get a very high resolution video feed in the ambulance in order to make a diagnosis on a patient with a knife wound. In the ambulance, Calum, wearing augmented reality (AR) glasses, was able to provide him with the ability to see the wound in close detail. This meant that he could advise Calum if this was an injury requiring treatment at a major trauma unit/emergency department or something that Calum or other ambulance staff could, with support, close the wound at the scene. If the latter, records of the wound and subsequent treatment would then be sent automatically to a district nurse for followup with the patient at home. Dave Rosser, Chief Executive of University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We are excited by the huge potential of 5G technology and how it can help transform healthcare in the future. We believe it has
Winter 2019
the potential to create more efficient use of healthcare resources, particularly with regard to easing the burden on A&E services, which are facing unprecedented demand. At present, the urgent care system is based on an antiquated model and our centres are dealing with huge numbers of patients every day. The characteristics of 5G mean it should provide many advantages, including speeding up diagnoses for patients and potentially reducing the number of ambulance and A&E department visits. In particular, being able to perform diagnoses remotely means a doctor or clinician could determine an appropriate care pathway without necessarily having to see someone in hospital.”
“Here at BT we are passionate about co-exploring the use of 5G with our customers, and it was fantastic to find people at SCAS equally passionate to support us with this demonstration. Thank you to Calum and all the SCAS team for your help.” Lucy Baker, Service Technology Director CTIO, Enterprise
Calum added: “On a ‘typical’ shift, we might see a maximum of 10-12 patients and I would estimate that when we are seeing that volume of patients, one or two of them would seriously benefit from the input of an expert clinician in the ways we have demonstrated. There are also benefits from the 5G technology of being able to transmit data and show the patient’s condition as we travel to hospital. This means the receiving hospital team know in real time if the patient is deteriorating and this can improve the quality of care that they receive as soon as they arrive.” BT/EE were the first UK operator to launch 5G in the UK in May 2019, rolling it out initial in London, Cardiff, Glasgow, Belfast, Birmingham and Manchester. Part of the demonstration that SCAS was involved with in November, was also filmed and broadcast on Channel 5’s The Gadget Show in October 2019. The episode can be viewed online via My5 here: http://thegadgetshow.co.uk/s30e04/
7
Fantastic team effort saves Darren’s life On Tuesday 11 November, Darren Trayhorn visited the SCAS Resource Centre in Lymington, Hampshire, to meet some of the team that helped save his life in April. Darren was accompanied by his wife Emma, son Tyler, and friend Darren Letchford, along with Darren Letchford’s Mum, Carole. The two Darren’s, and Tyler, had set out on the morning of Sunday 28 April for a bike ride from Hedge End, Southampton, to Everton, near Milford-on-Sea on the Hampshire Coast. The plan was to take the scenic route, using backroads through the stunning New Forest countryside. The distance – around 30 miles – was well within the capabilities of all three who were keen cyclists and in training do complete the following week’s
Round the Isle of Wight Randonee Cycle event. Not long into the ride, Darren started feeling some chest pain and shortness of breath; he put this down to the weather being cold and windy and continued on. “Once we were cycling the pain went, but a few miles up the road I was still suffering with shortness of breath and said to the boys, ‘let’s continue to Totton’.” The three stopped at a local bike shop where Darren bought a neck scarf to cover his mouth from the wind. They continued with the ride and the group made it to Everton and the finishing point, which was Darren Letchford’s parents’ house. Darren Letchford adds, “We’d been there about twenty minutes and were having a cuppa; Mum was making us all some bacon sandwiches. Darren said he wasn’t feeling well and was going to pop outside for some fresh air. Tyler, Mum
Winter 2019
and I didn’t think anything of it so carried on chatting.” However, the relaxed atmosphere soon changed when Darren Letchford went out to check on Darren; he was still feeling unwell and so asked him what he wanted to do. Darren Trayhorn wanted a call made to his wife, Emma, to see if she could come and pick him up. He told his friend that he didn’t feel he would be able to ride home and thought he just needed to sleep it off. When he came back into the house and told his Mum, Carole, what the plan was, she said: “He needs to see someone sooner, rather than later. He doesn’t look well at all.” So, rather than call his friend’s wife, Emma, Darren took his Mum’s advice and called 999. Whilst on the phone, Darren Trayhorn came back inside and asked if he could lie down in one of the bedrooms. As he made his way into Carole’s bedroom he suddenly went rapidly downhill. Thinking he was going to pass out, Darren fell to his hands and knees at the entrance to the bedroom and really started to struggle for breath. With Darren on the phone already to Emergency Call Taker, Jess Timbrell, who had been in post for six months, he was able to tell her exactly what was going on and she recognised the seriousness of the emergency and gave it the highest priority. Jess’ Emergency Dispatch colleagues – Simon Harrison, Sean Whale and Emily Jones – quickly began dispatching the nearest available resources, which included Paramedic, Michelle Lambert in a rapid response vehicle, an ambulance crewed by Paramedic, Lynda Stodart and Emergency Care Assistant, David Crampton, as well as the Hampshire Fire & Rescue Service Co-Responder from New Milton. Within the clinical co-ordination centre in Otterbourne, HEMS Paramedic, Tim Weekes also dispatched the Hampshire & Isle of Wight Air Ambulance, crewed by HEMS Paramedics Nigel Harley and John Gamblin and Emergency Medicine Consultant, Dr Lee Barnicott.
“I couldn’t believe how quickly someone arrived”, says Darren Letchford. “I was still on the phone to Jess and Michelle was walking in the door!” Michelle had been on standby a short distance away and arrived in under four minutes. “Darren was in a ground floor bedroom, and didn’t look well”, she remembered. “I quickly carried out an ECG and as I was reading this, he started doing these funny things with his arms. His actions and his ECG told me he was going to go into arrest imminently, so I called out for his friend Darren to come and help me. I asked him if he knew any first aid – and he said ‘No’!” By this time, Darren had collapsed on the bed in cardiac arrest, so his friend helped Michelle get him on the floor and under her guidance he started CPR whilst she got the defibrillator ready. Fortunately, one shock was enough to restart Darren’s heart. With the support of Lynda and David on the ambulance that had now arrived, the HFRS Co-Responder and the Hampshire & Isle of Wight Air Ambulance that had landed in a field a short walk from the house, Darren continued to receive a range of treatments and medications to stabilise him, ready to be flown to University Hospital Southampton.
9
Winter 2019
Darren was in and out of hospital a couple of times over the following week and has initially had two stents fitted. At the time he visited SCAS’ base at Lymington, he was awaiting a further angiogram to identify if there had been any further narrowing of his arteries that might require further surgery. Since meeting some of the team, Darren has now had a third stent fitted. Darren’s wife, Emma, added, “It’s been tough for Darren, not just in terms of getting himself physically well again, but it’s also been challenging for his emotional wellbeing too. That’s why we were so pleased to be able to come and meet some of the team that helped him back in April. It’s been a great opportunity for Darren to fill in some of the blanks; find out what treatments and medication he was given and why, as well as for the other Darren and Tyler to see and talk to people again under much happier circumstances. And I can finally put some faces to the names that Darren has talked a lot about too!” Darren and Emma very kindly brought some gifts along with them and Nigel, Michelle, Jess and Lynda were very glad to accept them on behalf of all of Darren’s lifesaving team. During the meeting, the Darren’s discovered that Nigel from HIOWAA was also a keen cyclist and a suggestion was made to meet up for a ride once Darren Trayhorn was fully fit again.
“I’d have no worries about doing that sort of mileage again if both Darren Letchford and Nigel were with me!” he concluded.
11
Second conference a success
On Saturday, 2 November, SCAS held its second Responder Conference at Wokefield Park in Mortimer, Berkshire. As well as networking and learning opportunities for the community responders, fire, police and military co-responders, community engagement and training team, and other SCAS staff attending, delegates were also able to listen to a number of expert speakers. Consultant Pre-Hospital Care Practitioner, Mark Ainsworth-Smith, focused his talk on the challenges that a growing, ageing population brings, highlighting the high volume of major trauma incidents that SCAS attends that are as a result of falls (40%), and how CFRs can play a key role in quickly giving initial emergency first aid to such patients. Other topics include the role of SCAS Urgent Care Desk and how specialist paramedics can help all responders, information and advice on how to comprehensively assess
sick children, as well as the latest news from the South Central Ambulance Charity, presented by Charity CEO, Vanessa Casey. Attendees were also able to see and try out some of the latest medical equipment, including the latest inflatable lifting cushions and kit bags. The important role that all SCAS volunteers play was emphasised in the welcome from SCAS Chief Executive, Will Hancock, and formal closure by Chair, Lena Samuels.
Winter 2019
New ambulance fleet begins rolling out The first of the over 50 new Fiat van conversion ambulances ordered by SCAS earlier in 2019 began arriving for operational duty in November. These new additions to the fleet represent an investment of £6.5m this financial year, which is more than double the amount normally spent annually in refreshing SCAS’ emergency ambulance vehicles. The change to the new Fiat van conversions was recommended at a national level by Lord Carter’s Ambulance Services Review, published in September 2018.
13
NEW FIAT AMBULANCE
Winter 2019
AMBIES
2019 The annual celebration of SCAS’ amazing staff and volunteers, The Ambies, took place this year on Friday 29 November at the home of Red Bull Racing in Milton Keynes. There were nearly 300 nominations from SCAS staff, volunteers and members of the public, resulting in another difficult day of judging by this year’s Ambies Panel to whittle down a shortlist of potential winners in the 14 categories. The evening was compèred by Director of Operations, Mark Ainsworth, and Assistant Director of Operations, Paul Jefferies, and the Trust’s Chief Executive, Will Hancock, was joined on stage to present the awards by the original Stig, Perry McCarthy. As ever, the evening would not be possible without the generous support of our sponsors – Hexagon, Team Prevent, Liaison One Call, Terrafix, Zoll and J. Tomlinson.
And the winners were….
WINNERS
15
Volunteer of the Year Clare Hill, Community First Responder, Southampton
“Claire is one of the CFRs covering Southampton East and the City of Southampton and volunteers as much as she possibly can. She has provided an exceptional contribution in her time as a volunteer for SCAS and the CFR scheme of which she is part of. Claire provides an outstanding contribution to the delivery of patient centred care to patients that she attends and her commitment to her role as a volunteer expands to assisting the ambulance crew with ongoing patient care should it be required and is willing to learn and assist where possible.”
Team of the Year, Operations – Tony Aylmer, Richard Toes, Mark Pringle, Abigail Buckland (all based at Bletchley Resource Centre), Luke Froggatt (Emergency Dispatcher, Bicester), and Jessica Atkinson, (Emergency Call Taker, Otterbourne)
“Tony, Richard, Mark, Abigail, Luke and Jessica were the team that responded in SCAS’ clinical coordination centres, and at the home of Simon and Susan Boyce in Milton Keynes in February 2019, when Simon suffered a heart attack and then went into cardiac arrest. Thanks to the quick response of Jessica and Luke in recognising the seriousness of Simon’s
symptoms and dispatching the nearest available staff as a top priority response, and the teamwork of Richard, Abigail, Mark and Tony at the couple’s home, Simon was resuscitated from 13 cardiac arrests and has gone on to make a full recovery.”
Winter 2019
Commercial Services Operational Person of the Year – Lara Cove, PTS Team Leader, Winchester & Eastleigh
“Lara has been working for Patient Transport for over 18 years, giving tirelessly and selflessly on a daily basis. Her passion and commitment to SCAS, and her attitude and work ethic is outstanding. She is generally known as the first one in and last one out, constantly being told to go home, often hours after her shift has finished. Lara will go out of her way to help you, she will listen to your problems and do everything she can to help you. She also takes care of every single patient like they are her own family, and her empathy and professionalism towards everyone is truly outstanding.”
Educator of the Year Jade Mason, Clinical Mentor, High Wycombe
“Jade has now worked for SCAS since 2010 and was a student with the Trust for two years prior to that. During this time, she has become one of the most important members of the staff here at High Wycombe and is responsible for improvements in patient care as well as overall morale on station. She creates an environment that is safe, secure and friendly. This allows students and newly qualified paramedics the freedom they need to improve themselves in respect to both clinical matters and confidence. I can cite several people that Jade has helped mentor who are now Clinical Mentors and Team Leaders. One example of how Jade’s dedication to mentoring has helped improve the service.”
Support Person of the Year – Stuart Clack, Planning Information Analyst, Bicester “I have never heard Stuart say, ‘I can’t do that’ or ‘that’s not my job’. He may look at you like you are mad, say ‘I need to think about that’ and more often ‘are you sure you know what you are asking’ but he will always go away and work through the problem until he has done everything he can to deliver the request. He never shies away from a new challenge or additional work and because of this he has developed new skills and his portfolio has expanded.”
17
WINNERS
Team of the Year, Support South Education Team, Nursling
“This is a team that has the patient and their learners at the heart of everything they do. This is a team that wants to be able to support and develop each and every single member of staff, new and existing. This is evidenced by a number of team members who stay late and arrive early to offer extra support and guidance to trainees and existing staff members. This is a team that recognises the importance of
investing time and effort into the education and development of the organisation’s workforce, and are willing to go above and beyond to achieve that. This is a team that regularly forgoes breaks and finishing on time to offer support to staff, that regularly works extra hours to create and develop new teaching material.”
999 Person of the Year – Amelia Turner, Emergency Care Assistant, Winchester & Eastleigh
“On 30 June, whilst on a 14:00-00:00 shift with crew mate, Matthew Bremner, Technician, Amelia stopped their ambulance on a bridge over the M27 at Junction 12 having been made aware of a young man on the wrong
side of the barriers, threatening to jump onto the busy carriageway below. With Matthew looking after the patient that was already on their ambulance and requesting immediate assistance from Police and other SCAS units, Amelia walked over to make contact with the young man who was sitting on a ledge on the other side of a high barrier. Having been told initially to leave him alone, she was able to gain his trust as well as hold on tightly to one of his arms. She was eventually able to persuade him to climb over to the right side of the barrier where she hugged him as he broke down, consoled him and reassured him he was going to be ok. Amelia was congratulated by the Police and members of the public for doing an outstanding job.”
Winter 2019
People’s Pride Award Stephen Tobutt, Specialist Paramedic, Hightown, Southampton
“Despite my father being end of life I feel the care and compassion shown to him by Stephen was above and beyond anything we could have expected, and the leadership he demonstrated surpassed that of both Dad’s GP and the out of hours doctor who attended. I feel that Stephen is the only person who actually took on board the situation my father was in, seeing him as an individual, and took the best course of action to relieve the discomfort of someone who was unfortunately rapidly deteriorating. Despite this being an unbelievably difficult time for us all we can take some consolation in the care and compassion Stephen showed and it is good to know there are people like him out of there in society.”
SCAS Award for Innovation – Pre-Hospital Obstetric & Neonatal Emergencies Course, Darren Best & Sam Fleming
“To improve team performance and neonatal outcomes, Darren Best (SCAS) and Sam Fleming (Practice Development Midwife, Royal Berkshire Hospital NHS Foundation Trust) for the past three years have worked together to develop and embed the Pre-Hospital Obstetric and Neonatal Emergency (PHONE) course, which is multiprofessional training for community midwives, associate ambulance practitioners, paramedics and specialist practitioners/paramedics. Over 200 clinicians (both SCAS and RBH) have been
trained on the PHONE course with a combination of lectures and innovative low and high fidelity simulation scenarios at the Newbury Enhanced Simulation Centre. This innovative and highly interactive course, combined with Darren and Sam’s ongoing support to attendees, has been a true testament to multidisciplinary team working, creating confidence in staff in dealing with the most difficult, stressful and complex maternal emergencies for the mothers and babies in our community.”
19
WINNERS
Special Recognition for a Healthier Lifestyle Award Flu Vaccination Group 2018
“Flu vaccination of staff provides important health benefits to SCAS staff and patients. When staff are vaccinated it reduces sickness absence due to flu thus helping to ensure the Trust operates effectively though winter pressures. Vaccinated staff help prevent the spread of flu within the wider community and also help prevent illness and death from
flu in vulnerable patients. Last year, the Flu Vaccination Group ran their most successful campaign to date, achieving over 65 per cent uptake among frontline staff. This was an increase of over 10 percentage points over the previous year and meant the Trust qualified for 75 percent of the CQUIN flu vaccination monies.”
Governors’ Ambassador Award – Robert Woodward, Technician, Wexham
“Rob has worked for the Trust for over 15 years and there are several reasons why he should win this award. Rob covers the Maidenhead RRV and helps provide exceptional care for the people living and working there. His kind, caring and compassionate approach has always impressed me. He is supportive of his friends, colleagues and team mates, making him a very valuable member of
the team in any incident that he attends. He is knowledgeable, understanding and thoughtful, continuingly trying to provide, new and innovative ideas and ways to improve the service we provide our patients and the support we provide for our colleagues. Every year Rob spends the build up to Christmas getting donations of presents ready for the Christmas period. He then transforms into ACTUAL Father Christmas during December. A superb residual effect of this is that any children he treats while in uniform over the period are questioning whether Santa Clause arrived on an ambulance to treat them. The real reason for the transformation though is that Rob spends all his spare time in the run up to Christmas visiting children’s wards, the local A&E, SCAS bases and various other youth groups and charities to provide children who are having a difficult time over Christmas with a bit of Christmas cheer.”
Winter 2019
Clinical Coordination Centre 999 Person of the Year Dave Edwards, Control Duty Manager, Otterbourne
Commercial Services Contact Centre Person of the Year – Paulina Plichta, PTS Dispatcher, Bicester
“Dave drives innovation of his team members and colleagues; never one to be selfish with a task or challenge so as not to help develop others, he will ask for help when he needs it, just as much as he’ll offer it when he can. Dave
takes responsibility for himself and his team, and is not afraid to challenge others when necessary for the greater good. He doesn’t shy away from his responsibilities and manages a good mix of his own development and those around him. Dave is a great motivator, rarely displaying anything less than a positive ‘can do’ attitude. It’s always a pleasure to be around Dave, and if anyone is struggling with anything, he’ll be the first to help look for solutions to overcome the issue.”
“Paulina remains calm in challenging situations and goes over and above to ensure that patients are allocated to resources as quickly as possible. She is often the glue that holds the dispatch team together and is well respected within the contact centre by all her colleagues. She has a commitment to the experience that patients have when using the service that makes Paulina stand out. New dispatchers starting within the contact centre are often taken under her wing and she supports them as they learn the system and the day to day responsibilities of the role. She is always calm with people, even in stressful situations and allows them to make decisions to increase their confidence.”
WINNERS
21
NHS 111 Person of the Year Lesley Holloway, Call Handler, Otterbourne
“Lesley joined the 111 Dental Advisory Service (DAS) for Dorset Go Live Project Team with two months to launch and was a Godsend! Lesley threw herself into this work with huge amounts of energy and enthusiasm, creating countless numbers of test cases and running the test scripts. She recorded all the outcomes and errors, conducted parallel running of live casework on the training system, repeated the test scripts after the fixes had been actioned and provided constant, enthusiastic and meticulous fault-finding on every element of the new system. Today the 111 DAS is providing an excellent level of service, achieving a service level of 98%, and whilst this has been a huge collaborative effort involving every member of the team, none of it would have been possible to achieve without Lesley.�
AMBIES
2019
Winter 2019
SCAS staff deliver excellent care and service over busy Christmas Urgent & Emergency Care period Thanks to the hard work and dedication of all its staff and volunteers working over the busy Christmas and New Year period, SCAS met all its national response time targets in the twoweek period from ‘Black Friday’, 20 December 2019 to 2 January 2020. This means that all patient emergencies received by SCAS’ clinical co-ordination centres in Bicester, Oxfordshire, and Otterbourne, Hampshire – whether triaged as a Category 1 life-threatening emergency or a Category 4 less urgent emergency – received an ambulance response within the timescales set out by NHS England that all ambulance services are measured by. Mark Ainsworth, Director of Operations at South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust, said: “The Christmas and New Year fortnight is an exceptionally busy time for all emergency services and I’m delighted that we were able to continue to deliver excellent clinical care both in person and over the phone, and a responsive and appropriate service to all those patients who called 999 during these two weeks. As well as passing on my gratitude to our staff working in our clinical co-ordination centres
and on the road, we also received fantastic support right across the South Central area from our volunteer community first responders and co-responders from local fire and rescue services, police services and military personnel.”
Patient Transport Service It was an equally busy picture for our Patient Transport Service (PTS) across Hampshire, Sussex, Surrey, Berkshire, Oxfordshire, and Buckinghamshire. A total of 24,647 PTS journeys took place during the Christmas school holidays (Saturday 21 December to Sunday 5 January) with almost 13,000 of those between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Day. The team undertook 151 patient journeys on Christmas Day itself moving people into and out of hospital to spend time with their families, 911 journeys on Boxing Day and 309 took place on New Year’s Day. On Christmas Day and Boxing Day the Surrey PTS team arranged to take a man home from Frimley Park Hospital on Christmas Day and Boxing Day for his last Christmas, allowing him to have home visits on both days. Then on New Year’s Eve, the patient was taken by the team to a hospice. Thanks to the team’s efforts the family were very grateful to have the opportunity for one last Christmas together.
23
NHS 111 This winter there has been a national NHS campaign to promote the use of NHS 111, rather than members of the public choosing to visit a hospital emergency department for more minor injuries or illnesses. Overall this winter, (Oct-Dec 2019), the NHS 111 team have seen a 12.5% increase in demand compared to the same period 12 months earlier. The SCAS NHS 111 service continues to perform better than the national average in a number of areas, such as speed of answering calls, volume of abandoned calls, number of NHS 111 callers transferred to the 999 service of local emergency department. Will Hancock, Chief Executive at South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust, added: “I’d like to thank all our staff and volunteers for working so hard all year round, and particularly over the Christmas and New Year season when they are away from their families. Despite an increase in demand for our 999 and NHS 111 service compared to 12 months ago, the dedication, professionalism and commitment has meant we have been able to continue delivering responsive and high quality care at the busiest time of the year. Our non-emergency patient transport service team worked tirelessly to also ensure that many families could be re-united for Christmas, as well as ensuring that those regular users of the service could continue to receive their vital treatment and care at our region’s hospitals and treatment centres. I would particularly like to thank those PTS team members in Surrey, Sussex, Hampshire & the Thames Valley who worked on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day, missing time with their families to ensure other families could be together.”
Winter 2019
Be the one who makes a difference. Stand up. Speak up.
Freedom to SPEAK UP month A month-long campaign by the National Guardian’s Office (NGO), calling on NHS organisations to increase awareness of how staff can raise concerns at work, was enthusiastically supported right across the six counties in which SCAS operates during October. SCAS’ own Freedom To Speak Up (FTSU) Guardian, Simon Holbrook, toured the length and breadth of the SCAS patch in his ‘SpeakUp-ulance’, often being joined by his FTSU Guardian counterparts from the region’s integrated urgent care systems, acute hospitals and primary care providers.
Simon said: “The tour around the SCAS area was a great way to raise awareness amongst our staff about the ways they can raise a concern they may have about risk, malpractice or wrongdoing that they think might be harming the service we provide. It can be difficult for some staff to have the confidence to raise the concerns, or even know who they should raise them to.”
Speaking Up is something that any SCAS staff member can do – from the moment they receive an offer letter of employment to up to two years after leaving the Trust. It encompasses a range of matters that might be referred to as ‘raising a concern’, ‘complaining’, ‘raising a grievance’ or ‘whistleblowing’. Speak Up Month was the latest development in SCAS’ commitment to continuing to foster a strong speaking up culture, as well as making Simon – in his role as FTSU Guardian – more visible to staff across the organisation. “I really enjoyed meeting so many new SCAS people throughout October”, added Simon. “and the SpeakUp-ulance also
25
If you see a risk, a wrong-doing or malpractice, tell us so we can change it. attracted the attention of staff from our neighbouring ambulance trusts, local police officers, volunteer responders and car drivers, as well as members of the public. I would like to thank everyone for their support during the month, especially from my FTSU Guardian colleagues at other NHS Trusts in the region on the numerous joint events we ran. When things do go wrong, we need to make sure that lessons are learnt and things are improved. Equally, this month we were also highlighting that speaking up is also important when we think something might go wrong in the future, and even when things are good now – but could be even better.” Freedom To Speak Up Month concluded with a visit to SCAS from Dr Henrietta Hughes, the National FTSU Guardian. During her visit to SCAS, Dr. Hughes spent time with some of the Trust’s Board Members, as well as meeting the SCAS HART team, and visiting the PTS, 999 and NHS 111 teams working at Southern House, Otterbourne. The extremely positive feedback she gave to Simon following her visit demonstrated just how well SCAS staff put the needs of their most vulnerable patients and their colleagues at the centre of their work.
During Freedom To Speak Up Month, Simon…. Ran or attended
27 events across the South Central patch Spoke to
516 members of staff
Travelled
2,184 miles Ate
600 Gummi Bears (with some help from the people he met!)
Winter 2019
10,000
Target of reached on World Restart a Heart Day On Wednesday, 16 October, SCAS staff, volunteers and partner agencies joined organisations across the globe to teach lifesaving skills as part of World Restart a Heart Day. The Trust set the ambitious target of teaching 10,000 people cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and when the final numbers from the event were collated, the total number of children and adults trained in CPR came to 10,240 – a massive 22% increase on the total trained in 2018! The initiative, led by the Resuscitation Council (UK) in partnership with ambulance trusts across the UK, the British Heart Foundation, British Red Cross and St John Ambulance, aims to improve survival rates from out of hospital cardiac arrests. According to the latest figures publish by NHS England in January 2020, only 10% of people who suffer a cardiac arrest outside of a hospital environment survive. A person’s chances of survival decrease by 10% with every minute that passes without the patient receiving CPR (chest compressions) or a shock from a defibrillator. On World Restart a Heart Day, SCAS staff and volunteer community first responders worked alongside medically trained personnel from local police, fire and military services, at 55 schools across Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Hampshire and Oxfordshire, to teach students how to perform CPR and use a defibrillator. Other CPR training sessions took place at hospitals, in organisations and at public events in the South Central region.
Nic Dunbar, Head of Community Engagement & Training at SCAS, who led the Trust’s involvement in Restart a Heart Day, said: “I am delighted that we have, for the second year running, trained a record number of local people in life-saving CPR. Research has shown that less than a third of people who haven’t had professional training on a CPR course are likely to help someone who has collapsed and stopped breathing. The thousands of people we are training in CPR in the SCAS region every year means that more people than ever being given their best chance of survival from cardiac arrest.”
27
SCAS has the highest survival rate for cardiac arrest patients surviving to leave hospital amongst all English ambulance trusts; and the Trust has held this position since 2012/13.
Cardiac Arrest Survival to Leave Hospital Rates Trust
Patients treated
Left hospital
Survival rate
SCAS
777
116
14.9%
West Midlands
1,335
163
12.2%
South Western
1,434
171
11.9%
910
89
9.8%
1,365
130
9.5%
717
63
8.8%
London
1,599
139
8.7%
East Midlands
1,117
93
8.3%
North West
1,178
96
8.1%
948
75
7.9%
45
3
6.7%
11,425
1,138
10.0%
Yorkshire East of England North East
South East Coast Isle of Wight England
Source: NHS England, Apr-Aug 2019, published 11/01/20
Across the UK, there were 291,645 people taught the simple skills needed in order to become lifesavers of the future on Restart a Heart Day 2019.
Winter 2019
Happy birthday labour line On Tuesday 5 November, Labour Line – which operates from SCAS’ Clinical Co-ordination Centre in Otterbourne, Hampshire – celebrated its 6th birthday. Clare Goddard and Sam Donaldson (Hampshire Hospitals NHS FT), and Michelle Comrie (University Hospital Southampton NHS FT) were on shift on the birthday morning and were delighted to help celebrate this great milestone on behalf of the whole team. The Labour Line which launched in November 2013 was originally set up as a partnership between SCAS and Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Its early success saw it win a prestigious Royal College of Midwives Excellence in Maternity Care Award in 2015, and soon
midwives from University Hospital Southampton NHS FT and Portsmouth Hospital NHS Trust joined too, bringing the total team to 26 spread across the three Trusts. The team provides a first point of contact for women and their families choosing to either have their babies at home, in one of the six birth centres or four obstetric units across Hampshire. The service is available 24-7-365 and when not speaking directly to expectant mothers or their family members, the team can also provide advice to SCAS’ frontline ambulance crews, 999 call takers and NHS 111 call handlers and clinicians. Over the 24 hours of 5 November 2019, Labour Line took 57 calls – a large increase to the 14 calls that were were taken on the day it came into operation on 5 November 2013. This was actually a calmer day than normal as the average number of calls taken each day over the last six months is 75.
29
Great South Run 2019 The annual Great South Run saw 20,000 runners on the streets of Portsmouth for the 30th anniversary of one of the most popular events in the UK running calendar on Sunday 20 October. Behind the scenes, a large number of SCAS staff are vital to the safe running of the event, not just on the day itself but in the run up to race weekend too. Fortunately, unlike previous years, no casualties needed the assistance of the SCAS medical team on the day and only a small number of runners needed help from the finish line team. This year saw the event control room move from the Portsmouth City Council Offices to SCAS’ North Harbour Resource Centre, with SCAS staff joined by colleagues from St John Ambulance, and event organisers, The Great Run Company. The new location was unanimously agreed to be a great move. Team Leader, Ben Lambert, was one of the SCAS staff working on the route over the weekend. Ben and colleague, Neil Attwood, were using SCAS motorcycles on the Saturday and the main race day on Sunday.
“The atmosphere on the ground was fantastic with so many members of the public out supporting the runners and SCAS being there. Everyone comes up for a chat; it never fails to amaze me that people
running in the event will stop to thank us for being there – there were lots of high fives and occasionally, a hug! The runners always seem pleased to see us out there and are as supportive of us as we are of them. I lost count of the number of times Neil and I were asked if people could jump on the back of the bike and a get a lift to the finish! Local businesses were also out supporting the event, and we’d like to give a special mention to The Dolphin Pub in Old Portsmouth, who were supplying those of us working at Mile 1 with a thank you tea or coffee in the lead up to the race starting.” The good weather saw a record number of finishers in 2019, amongst whom were nine members of Team SCAS, who raised some fantastic amounts for their chosen charities:
Matty Campbell Paul Darlaston Glyn Ethelston Graham Harfield Ben Glover Tim Gough Casey Pennington Gemma Paterson Michelle Archer
1:30 1:31 1:33 1:37 1:38 1:38 1:38 1:44 2:06
Winter 2019
Safe Drive Stay ALIVE Safe Drive Stay Alive celebrated its 14th year in 2019 and the Safe Drive Stay Alive tour has now welcomed over 268,000 visitors since its first performance in 2006. It is a firm fixture in the education calendar for schools and colleges across the Thames Valley and Hampshire. SCAS, as a partner in the Thames Valley and Hampshire road safety partnership, has played a pivotal role in the Safe Drive Stay Alive initiative. Four young people a week are killed or seriously injured on the roads in the South Central region, and nationally, around a quarter of all deaths on the road are people aged 17-24-years-old. Safe Drive Stay Alive sees police, ambulance, fire and rescue services and local councils working together to reduce the number of young people dying on the road by educating 16-18-year-olds who have either already started driving or will shortly start learning to do so. Lisa Ramsey, Paramedic Team Leader at High Wycombe, who organises the Trust’s involvement every year in High Wycombe and Milton Keynes with Safe Drive Stay Alive, said: “This is such a worthwhile and amazing event. It is deliberately designed to be a highly emotive and hard-hitting show graphically demonstrating the harrowing consequences of being involved in a road traffic collision. Road death is the biggest killer of young people in the UK and its vital we reduce that toll by making the region’s teenagers
aware of the many dangers they face and the impact of their actions behind the wheel on themselves, their friends, their families and the emergency services that have to deal with the consequences.” Milton Keynes-based Paramedic, Calum Stone, joined the Safe Drive Stay Alive tour this year and took the stage to describe one of the most distressing fatal road traffic collisions that he was sent to. “It was an incident I am never going to forget”, adds Calum. “A group of three siblings, the oldest being the 18-year-old driver, were coming home from a day out at an amusement park. As they travelled back on the motorway, the driver decided to text their Mum to tell them they were on their way back from having a great day out. Unfortunately, he then lost control of the car, crashing it and rolling it over multiple times.” Calum, as the first emergency service responder to arrive at the scene, was unable to do to anything for the three young people inside the car who had all sustained catastrophic injuries and either died instantly, or a very short time after the accident.
31 He didn’t spare the audience in the theatre auditorium the horror of the scene and described, in some detail, what he saw when he checked each person and what happens to the human body following a 70mph impact both inside the vehicle, and in this incident, when a person is thrown out of the vehicle at that speed. As well as the experiences of SCAS staff, individuals from local Police and Fire & Rescue Services, as well as emergency department doctors, then come on to the stage to describe, and show details of, some of the incidents they have dealt with and the consequences of driving at speed, under the influence of drink or drugs, using a mobile phone at the wheel or not driving to the road or weather conditions. Each performance concludes with even more emotional presentations from the surviving relatives of young people who have lost their lives in road traffic accidents, as well as individuals who have suffered life-changing injuries as a result of poor decisions they made behind the wheel.
“I would like to thank all my colleagues for their support with Safe Drive Stay Alive”, says Lisa. “And particularly those like Calum who offered to share their experiences this year for the first time. It’s not unusual for us to have between 10-25 young people leave the auditorium during each performance due to them feeling physically or emotionally unable to continue watching, and I’m also very grateful for the ongoing support of our local community first responders who come to look after those young people too.” This year’s tour began in Reading at the Hexagon Theatre before visiting theatres in High Wycombe, Milton Keynes, Basingstoke, Southampton and Oxford. In total, around 25,000 local students saw the Safe Drive Stay Alive tour this year.
If any SCAS members of staff would like to find out more about Safe Drive Stay Alive 2020 and how to take part, please contact Lisa on Î lisa.ramsey@scas.nhs.uk
Winter 2019
Winter Woolies Appeal for Oxford’s homeless Homelessness in Oxford is estimated, by one of the largest emergency accommodation providers in Oxfordshire, to have increased by 400% since 2012. The increasing numbers have been something that Susan Baker, a Paramedic, and her husband Pete, a Technician, who are both based at SCAS’ Didcot Resource Centre, had become increasingly concerned about. “Pete and I started the Winter Woollies Appeal in 2018 due to the increase in homelessness and the high number of homeless deaths throughout the country”, said Susan. “Whilst we are out doing our job we encounter many homeless people sleeping rough in shop doorways or in alleyways and it is so heart breaking that we felt we could no longer sit back and do nothing.” Following the success of the inaugural appeal last year, Susan and Pete launched it again this winter. Thanks to the generosity of SCAS staff across Oxfordshire, along with support from Boots in Wantage, Cancer Research in Wantage and Didcot pet shops, on 5 December, Susan and Pete, along with Team Leader, Kate Ellis, and Clinical Operations Manager, Craig Heigold, took two ambulances packed full of winter clothing, sleeping bags, boots, toiletries and pet foods out in Oxford city centre to ensure that all the donations went directly to the people who really need them. Over the course of just a couple of hours, the team found around 20 homeless people in Oxford centre, all of whom were extremely grateful for the additional clothing, bedding and other items.
33
The remaining donations were all dropped off at two emergency shelters in the city centre which, due to the cold temperatures that evening, were opening their doors to more of Oxford’s homeless, ensuing that every item donated went directly to those who need them.
Susan added: “The people we met on the street have nothing, yet their community spirit is humbling, their thanks heartfelt and after our visit, they are just a little bit warmer. I would like to thank all of mine and Pete’s colleagues in SCAS for their donations and help in making this year’s appeal happen, to the local charities and shops that supported us, to SCAS for giving us the two ambulances to use and to Kate and Craig for their help on the night too. It’s an amazing cause and we really appreciate all your support.”
Winter 2019
Gold Star of Life Award for Delia and Michael Congratulations to Delia Reilly and Michael Ryan who have been recognised for their achievements in supporting the development of LGBT Networks by each being given a Gold Star of Life Award. The Gold Star of Life Award was introduced in 2018 as a way of saying thank you to all the people who have helped to get the National Ambulance LGBT Network established. This year’s Gold Star of Life Award winners were announced at the National Ambulance LGBT Network Conference in Birmingham on 10 October 2019. Delia was able to collect her award in person, but Michael was unable to attend. At the end of November, Executive Director of Human Resources and Organisational Development, Melanie Saunders, along with Natasha Dymond, Assistant Director of HR Operations, visited Bletchley Resource Centre to congratulate both Delia and Michael and formally present them with their awards in front of a selection of station staff.
Delia joined the LGBT Network as the Trans Advisor, and she has been instrumental in bringing together our Trans Guidance. She always takes the time to support staff working within SCAS with her open and supportive approach; she’s a real asset to the team, with immense knowledge and experience. Michael’s pride and passion for the LGBT community is evident in everything he does. He was instrumental in engaging a new Pride event in Milton Keynes, ensuring the important message of inclusivity for all was clear, with his very engaging and enthusiastic manner.
Kirsten Willis, Head of Operations (West Berkshire) at SCAS, added: “As Deputy Chair to the National Network and Chair of the SCAS LGBT Network, I am immensely proud of both Delia and Michael’s achievements, and for what I have observed of them both within SCAS, they truly do demonstrate our core values and are very much deserving of these awards.”
35
Joint Exercise in Milton Keynes On Tuesday 19 November, SCAS took part in a Command Exercise at the Xscape Leisure Complex, in Milton Keynes. SCAS Commanders from the North North Operational Area attended along with commanders from Buckinghamshire Fire & Rescue Service, Thames Valley Police and Milton Keynes Council. The organisations taking part in the exercise were faced with a scenario of an electrical fire within the plant room, resulting in two members of maintenance staff being affected and a complete evacuation of the entire leisure complex (circa. 2,700 people). This was a great opportunity to participate in a night time, live exercise with our multi-agency partners and allowed the Commanders present to gain confidence in putting their JESIP training into practice. Siobhan Law said: “After recently completing the NARU Operational Commander course, this proved a valuable opportunity to put the knowledge into practice in the ‘exercise’ environment. With such a good turnout of multi-agency responders it really allowed us to work through the principles of joint working as outlined in JESIP.”
Amanda Joyce added: “It was a valuable experience to be able to practice interacting with other services, while using the JESIP principles, in real time at a realistic, significant incident.” JESIP stands for Joint Emergency Services Interoperability Principles. JESIP provides a framework to support and encourage emergency responders to work together effectively to manage an incident. The Resilience and Specialist Operations Department is currently working with our partner agencies from across the four fire and rescue services and two police forces operating in the South Central region to deliver a one day JESIP course to all current SCAS Operational Commanders.
Winter 2019
Community round-up Our charity team, staff, community first responders, volunteers and supporters work tirelessly all year round raising much needed funds for the South Central Ambulance Charity and other causes, as well as develop and strengthen the Trust’s relationship with the local communities we serve. Here’s a small selection of what they have been up to between October and December 2019.
37
CHARITY SHORTLISTED FOR NATIONAL AWARD
The SCAS Charity and Community Engagement Team were shortlisted in the Partnership Working in Volunteering at the national Helpforce Champions Award, held on 25 October to celebrate the amazing ways in which volunteers across the country give their time to benefit patients, NHS staff and communities. Unfortunately, the team didn’t win but were very pleased to have been one of two entries that were Highly Commended.
CHINNOR ONE OF THE SAFEST PLACES IN THE COUNTRY
Thanks to the work of local community first responders, Chinnor in Oxfordshire is one of the safest places in the country with residents and visitors never more than 300 metres away from a publicly accessible defibrillator (PAD). In October, the latest two PADs went live bringing the total in the village to six. DIDCOT STAFF SUPPORT LOCAL FOODBANK AT CHRISTMAS
NATIONAL ELF DAY
Staff at SCAS’ Headquarters in Bicester enthusiastically supported Elf Day on 6 December in support of the Alzheimer’s Society. With staff from the Trust’s Estates, HR, NHS 111 and EOC teams channelling their inner elf – along with Chief Executive, Will Hancock – nearly £250.00 was raised on the day. SAFEGUARDING TEAM COMMENDED BY LOCAL PARTNER
EMERGENCY SERVICES THROWDOWN COMPETITION
The Hazardous Area Response Team (HART) took part in the inaugural Emergency Services Throwdown competition in October, hosted at CrossFit, Southampton. HART entered three teams and with a total of 90 emergency services personnel taking part, it was a resounding success, and a great way to forge links with like-minded people across ambulance, police and fire services.
Clinical Mentor, Rob Gilley, organised a collection for the Didcot Emergency Food Bank. A huge array of food was collected along with gifts for children. In the run up to Christmas, Didcot Foodbank issued emergency food parcels to 55 adults and children each week.
Congratulations to the SCAS Safeguarding Team who were recently commended by Royal Berkshire Fire & Rescue Service. Tony Heselton collected the award on the team’s behalf for their third place award from RBFRS for collaboration and information sharing between our two organisations.
Winter 2019
PTS STAFF SUPPORT OPERATION CHRISTMAS CHILD
Staff from Stoke Mandeville’s Patient Transport Service this year supported Samaritan’s Purse – Operation Christmas Child. The team filled 18 shoeboxes with gifts for children, along with a £5 donation, which were delivered to a local Mothercare in mid-November so they could
be sent around the world. Since 1990, more than 168 million children on over 160 countries have received gifts through this appeal to help make Christmas more special for some of the world’s poorest children.
THREE GENERATIONS ON REMEMBRANCE SUNDAY
FANTASTIC DONATION FROM BURLEY GOLF CLUB
Thank you to Martin and Jennet, the outgoing captains of Burley Golf Club, along with all the Club’s members and supporters, who have raised a fantastic £6,766 for our Charity and local community first responders. Emergency Care Assistant, James Jenkins, proudly attended this year’s Remembrance Parade with his son and father-in-law, who served in the Royal Air Force. From Eastbourne in Sussex, to Witney in Oxfordshire – and plenty
of other places in between, many other SCAS staff like James took part in local Remembrance Sunday events.
39
How are we doing? Ambulance Response Programme
Apr-Dec 2019 Category 1 Mean
Category 2 Mean
07:13 (target 07:00)
17:53 (target 18:00)
Incidents 24,245
Incidents 218,899
90th Percentile
90th Percentile
13:06 (target 15:00)
36:24 (target 40:00)
Category 3 90th Percentile
Category 4 90th Percentile
02:09:25 (02:00:00)
02:59:38 (03:00:00)
Incidents 135,150
Incidents 7,995 Target achieved
Target missed
What does it mean? Category 1
Category 3
Life-threatening calls. Responded to in an average (mean) of seven minutes and at least nine out of ten times within 15 minutes (90th percentile).
Urgent calls. Responded to at least nine out of ten times within 120 minutes. You may be treated by ambulance staff at the scene.
Category 2
Category 4
Emergency calls. Responded to in an average (mean) of 18 minutes and at least nine out of ten times within 40 minutes (90th percentile).
Less urgent calls. Responded to at least nine out of ten times within 180 minutes. You may be given advice over the phone or referred to another service, such as a GP or pharmacist.
Winter 2019
Winter Twenty Nineteen Please send articles, or ideas to communications@scas.nhs.uk along
Wo rk
ing
toge
ther
with any photos or images.
scas.nhs.uk