South Central Ambulance Service
NHS Foundation Trust
NEWS
April 2021
WELCOME Welcome to our Spring newsletter. As you can imagine the last 12 months have been pretty hectic for us. We would like to take this opportunity to say a huge heartfelt thank you to everyone who has supported us. I know how much it means to our staff and volunteers to know they are valued and appreciated and of course, most importantly, your support enables us to help our teams in providing the best possible patient care. As we start to see the sun shining outside and new spring flowers coming through I think we are all beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Of course, we must continue to follow the rules and take care but we hope the pressure on our teams may now be coming down. SCAS has had one of the busiest January’s on record so we are all pleased to see the pressure starting to ease.
funds Report Funds received from the NHS Charities Together campaign
We are enormously grateful to NHS Charities Together for the support they have given us during the pandemic. The NHS Charities Together national campaign has raised over £150m thanks to the fantastic support of the public and the heroic efforts of many fundraisers including the late Captain Sir Tom Moore. Like all member charities SCAS Charity has received funding in the initial stage one grant programme which aims to support the health and wellbeing of our staff and volunteers. These grants have enabled us to provide a range of benefits to them. Uniform boots and trousers for our volunteer Community First Responders. In the past CFRs would purchase their own but in discussion with them what they really wanted was a ‘uniform’ trouser to go with their tops and jackets and boots that were comfy, practical and safe. Our CFRs have told us that these Continued on the next page
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have made a significant difference to them, not only giving them a standard look which reflects the professionalism they bring to the ambulance service but also ensuring they really feel like they belong to our ambulance family. Our Operations Department have supplied a new style of winter jacket for staff that will offer comfort and warmth and also be equally practical when driving and attending patients. The Charity has provided some of the additional cost over and above the standard NHS issue. Vacuum flasks have been provided to all frontline and Patient Transport Staff to enable them to carry a drink with them when out on the road. A hot drink that stays hot until you have a moment to drink it as well as a cold drink that stays cold in the warmer months can make a huge difference! And it all helps in keeping our staff hydrated during busy periods.
We hope to bring you more in our next newsletter about projects we are currently discussing
At Christmas we were delighted to be able to send all our staff and volunteers, across SCAS, a seasonal hamper to say Thank you. Thank you for all the hard work over the last year, thank you for keeping going during such challenging times and thank you for caring for our patients and for each other.
Spinnaker Abseil
Towards the end of 2019 we organised our first major fundraising event. After much discussion we decided to organise a 110m abseil at the iconic Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth. Not sure how people would respond we were delighted when forty willing participants decided to take up the challenge and began fundraising. Our abseil was all set for 25th April 2020. As we all know events took over and we were forced to postpone. Between lockdowns we were able to reschedule our event which took place at the end of September. We had a slightly rocky start to the day with high winds on the south coast – not ideal when you are that high up! But after a few test runs by the professionals we were all set to go. We had a fantastic day in Portsmouth. The event raised an incredible £14,000 and we have since had lots of people asking us when the next one will be! A huge thank you to everyone who took part and to all those who donated to raise such an incredible sum of money for the Charity.
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Support from the Wally AND Phyliss Locke Trust SCAS Charity has been generously supported by Buckinghamshire Freemasons for some time. Last year we were told about Wally Locke, a proud Buckinghamshire Freemason and a member of the Vale Lodge in Aylesbury. When Wally passed away nearly 20 years ago, his widow Phyliss Locke, who was herself a generous and inspirational lady wanted to ensure that the incredible charitable efforts of her husband throughout his years as a Freemason would continue when she also passed on. Phyliss collaborated with a local Freemason and a member of Wally’s Lodge to set up The Wally and Phyliss Locke Trust Fund. One of the Trustees, Aylesbury based Freemason Graham Dearing explained that the trust fund donates to local good causes every year, ensuring their names continue to be associated with the fantastic charitable work of the Freemasons. The recent donation of £20,000 from the Trust to the SCAS Charity has enabled us to purchase two LUCAS 3 devices for use by our ambulance crews working out of Stoke Mandeville station.
We are very grateful to The Wally and Phyllis Locke Trust and Buckinghamshire Freemasons for their continued support
LUCAS devices provide mechanical CPR on a patient providing regular, safe and effective chest compressions which enables blood circulation to be maintained at a regular level leading to an increased brain/tissue perfusion which can mean less neurological damage in the long term. Having a LUCAS device in place also frees up the paramedic with the patient reducing stress in the back of the ambulance, increasing safety and increasing the chances of survival for the patient. Out of hospital cardiac arrests are the most serious calls our teams have to attend. Our aim is always to provide the best possible care for all our patients and to do this we not only need dedicated, skilled, professional staff but the modern technology that enables them to do their jobs to the best of their ability.
Thank you also to our CFR Steve Acton for his support in helping us to achieve this wonderful grant
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CFR News Community First Responder Jeanette Gill recently received a Community Hero Award from Waitrose in Faringdon. Jeanette was nominated by her CFR scheme coordinator Les Harding. Jeanette had made herself available as a CFR for 127 hours last October covering large areas of Oxfordshire helping patients in need. Les said Jeanette has been a true local hero in challenging times and it is great to see that being recognised. After almost 20,000 hours of responding to more than 1000 patients, Bishop’s Waltham CFR John Price is standing down. John trained to be a CFR on joining the scheme in 2011 and has been a key member of the group constantly working to improve the efficiency of their response to emergency situations. After attending more than 300 heart attacks over the last 9 years, John found himself experiencing the patient’s view of the CFR last year when he suffered his own cardiac event and was attended by another team member. Fortunately due to very swift treatment, John has made a full recovery.
being a first responder is the most rewarding thing I have ever done says john
Oxfordshire CFR Hayley Reynolds signed up to her toughest challenge year last year – a gruelling 17.6km (11 mile) swim of Lake Windemere. At the last minute, like many events last year, the official challenge was cancelled. Hayley though was not going to be beaten! The next day she set out to achieve her goal. Successfully completing the challenge in an incredible 7 hours and raising over £800 for the SCAS Charity. Hayley admits the last few kilometres were hard going but she kept going to the end. Our congratulations to Hayley for an amazing achievement and to support crew Julian, Brett and Sue. Well done Hayley from all of us! Last year CFR Mark Potts took part in a virtual challenge to walk the 184 mile length of the Thames to raise money for SCAS. Mark had applied to be a CFR and was waiting for his training to start. Mark raised an incredible £2,800. This year Mark has decided to walk the distance from Lands End to John O’Groats some 874 miles. Mark hopes to do this over the next 12 months – alongside his busy work life and CFR volunteering.
It costs around £310 a year to keep each of our CFRs equipped and out in our communities every John is rightly very proud that during his time as a CFR year and Mark hopes to raise enough money to in Bishop’s Waltham the group won the National Heart support CFRs in Berkshire to cover this cost. Safe Award in 2017 and most recently in 2020 were awarded the prestigious Queens Award for Voluntary We are behind Mark every step of the way and wish him the best of luck with his walking service. He says that being a responder is the most rewarding thing he has ever done. We thank John for and fundraising! his wonderful service to the community and wish him a very happy retirement.
Thank you Mark!
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Thank you to our supporters In 2019 Councillor Eleanor Bell became Mayor of Winchester and chose SCAS Charity as one of three charities to benefit from her year in Office. During her year the Mayor raised a fantastic £2,000 to support our CFRs in the Winchester area.Funds will be used to support CFRs with equipment they need to continue their roles and to help us to develop new skills for our volunteers. In Berkshire, CFRs were supported by a grant from Persimmon Homes who donated £1000 through their Community Champions Scheme. The grant funded a new lifting cushion to enable them to respond to elderly patients who have fallen. Having this piece of equipment and the necessary training means our CFRs can get to the patient quickly and ensure they are safely lifted up off of the floor. Chipping Norton Town Council also generously donated £1000 in Oxfordshire for a new lifting cushion. CFRs in both of these areas will now be able to respond to a wider range of emergency calls and help some of our most vulnerable patients. We are grateful to our local CFRs Paul Robson in Lower Earley and Paul Butler-Mclees in Chipping Norton for achieving these grants. Buckinghamshire Council Community board in the Chalfonts area recently supported the costs of five Community First Responders for the next year. Funds provided through their COVID support grants will pay the ongoing smartphone costs for deploying CFRs to patient emergencies, replacement defibrillator batteries and some vehicle running costs for the local direct response vehicle. Last year our much awaited vehicle replacement programme took place. With the support of Dacia UK we were able to roll out 40 new Dacia Dusters across the SCAS area for use by our Community First Responders. This partnership has enabled us to secure a fleet of reliable and suitable vehicles. We will continue to work with Dacia to further develop our fleet and are enormously grateful for the opportunity this provided us to ensure Charity funds are best used to support patient care.
As part of the new vehicle programme two community groups in particular deserve special mention. High Wycombe Lions and Berkshire Freemasons fully funded vehicles in their areas. Early in 2018 High Wycombe Lions decided to take on the task of raising funds to provide a new response vehicle in the area. Sadly this turned out to be their last project with the Lions group disbanding in 2020. High Wycombe Lions are however rightly proud of the huge contribution they have made to the area over the years and to South Central Ambulance Charity. The new vehicle will continue to acknowledge the legacy they have left which will help to save lives for many years to come. Christopher Wren Lodge in Berkshire were in receipt of a legacy gift from a former Freemason in Windsor. The Lodge was keen that funds would provide a lasting community benefit and in acknowledging the important support our Community First Responders provide across the Windsor and wider Berkshire area agreed to fund the Windsor response. We thank both of these community organisations for their support.
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CFR Activity 21,019 emergency calls
since october
15,000 of them had a cfr first on the scene
Our CFRs have continued to respond to a high number of calls across the SCAS area. Since last October there have been 21,019 calls received in total during this period. Of those one of our CFRs was first on scene with the patient for almost 15,000 calls. This means that patient care was able to start quickly while the attending ambulance was on its way to the incident.
181,603 HOURS ON DUTY
1065 volunteers
Since last September our Community First Responders and Co-Responders have notched up 181,603 hours on duty and we now have 1065 volunteers in total all responding in their local areas supporting patients.
We have had to change some of the ways we work over the last year but we knew we had to continue recruiting volunteers to ensure we could maintain our commitment to patient care. New processes have been created and implemented and we are delighted to have been able to recruit and train 101 new starters since 1 September 2020. Welcome to our new recruits and a huge thank you to all our Responders for the incredible life-saving work you do. We are currently looking to recruit new responders in Henley on Thames, Hungerford, Amersham & Chesham, Beaconsfield, Newport Pagnell, Olney, Haddenham, Denham, Chalfonts, Milton Keynes, Chipping Norton, Wallingford, Watlington, The Wychwoods, Burford, Carterton, Cholsey, Beinsfield, Faringdon, Eynsham, Chinnor, Oxford, Banbury and Abingdon. So if you live in any of these areas and are interested in finding our more please get in touch! You can find more information and register an enquiry on our website at www.scas.charity/get-involved. Thank you. There are many ways in which our Responders, fundraisers and supporters have gone above and beyond over the last six months. We would love to tell you about them all but have selected some of the highlights to share. You can keep up to date with everything we are up to by following us on Twitter @scacharity or on Facebook South Central Ambulance Charity. Thank you.
We are hoping to send our newsletter out to supporters three times a year. A chance for us to let you know what we are up to and how we are spending the fantastic donations we receive. If you would prefer not to continue receiving our newsletter please respond to this email adding Unsubscribe as the subject heading and we will remove you from our list.
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