Agenda item

This report and the attached Appendix provides an update from the South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SECamb).

Discussion:

The Strategic Partnerships Manager (Kent & Medway), the Deputy Director Strategy and Transformation / Deputy Chief Strategy Officer and the Operating Unit Manager (Dartford & Medway) from the South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SECAmb) introduced the report which provided an update on the Trust’s performance. It was also explained that the Trust had been removed from the Recovery Support Programme, formerly known as special measures and that its staff survey which had been published that day, was the best results ever recorded and continued an improving trend over the previous three years. In addition, Medway was the best performing unit within the SECAmb footprint.

Members then asked a number of questions and comments, which included:

·       Interface with Medway Maritime Hospital – in response to a question about the Trust’s experience of dropping patients at Medway’s hospital, it was explained that collaborative work had seen this transform over the previous two years, and it was now one of the best performing areas for ambulance hand-over in the country.

·       Multidisciplinary Integrated Urgent Care Hubs pilot – in response to a question regarding progress of the pilot, it was confirmed that full evaluation of the pilot had not yet been carried out and therefore data had not yet been validated but would be made available once validation was completed. It was added that in order to meet the needs of the growing and aging population the system needed to be more creative with its approaches on how to best meet demand, particularly for those with complex needs, in order to create a sustainable NHS.

·       Delivering services to meet changing needs – it was explained that the Trust had physically responded to 88% of calls and 13.5% of those had a true life threatening or emergency health need so the Trust needed to change how it responded to patients to be able to better respond to need and treat patients where it was safest. The Trust was therefore looking at adapting to virtual responses where safe and best to do so. Utilising multi-disciplinary hubs and Integrated Neighbourhood Teams would help ensure patients were signposted to the right place and treated more effectively whilst being kept out of Emergency Departments unless necessary.

·       Staff culture – in response to a question about how positive morale amongst staff would be maintained, it was explained that the speak up and positive staff culture was a significant focus of the improvement journey and the latest workforce survey figures demonstrated the improvements already made. They were also beginning to explore rotation models with other NHS organisations to provide staff with opportunities for wider skill development and experience. In terms of bullying, which had been a particular area of concern, there had been a great deal of investment in the speak up culture and supporting staff to be able to do so, as well as training opportunities to shift the culture in relation to this aspect.

·       Response times – it was confirmed that Medway was consistently a top performer in relation to responding to calls and was consistently meeting targets.

·       Mental Health – reference was made to the collaborative work between SECAmb and the mental health trust and it was confirmed this was ongoing to develop alternative pathways, as often taking a patient in mental health crisis to A&E was not the best place for them. Greater use was being made of the safe havens in Kent and crews were now able to access the 836 clinical advice line service, which historically had been just for the police, to access specialist advice.

Decision:

The Committee noted the report.