East: Ambulance Service Promises Better Patient Care And Improved Staff Morale

24 April 2013, 04:00

A plan to transform patient care and boost staff morale has been launched by the East of England Ambulance Service.

The plan will build on measures announced earlier this year such as recruiting more front line staff and having more ambulances, and is focussed on building a successful 999 service within a thriving organisation.

They said "Some of the plan's highlights are to: recruit 82 specialist paramedics, 149 paramedics, 24 emergency medical technicians and 96 emergency care assistants this front line recruitment, in addition to reducing staff sickness and reducing our spend on private ambulances will enable the Trust to provide the equivalent of an extra 25 of its own 24/7 double staffed ambulances, meet tough sickness absence targets, aiming for a 1% point decrease in frontline sickness every month for six months from June."

The Trust said they would also be "investing in people by relaunching the emergency medical technician career pathway and developing clear career pathways for front line staff devolve management and accountability away from a centralised management system through an operational management restructure implement an organisational development strategy which will better empower, involve and engage with staff."

"These proactive measures will better support staff already working in the service and help the Trust work towards excellent, sustainable clinical care for patients."

Andrew Morgan, interim Chief Executive, said: "We need to improve the service we give to patients and better support our dedicated and committed staff. In addition to recruiting more people and putting more vehicles on the road earlier this year, we have developed short and medium term actions and, coupled with our organisational development strategy to better empower staff, these will help to start to transform the service."

He added: "Transforming the organisation will take time but we have the staff and the focus to turn things around together."