Staff appeal as 999 calls rise

999 ambulance calls in the East of England are 10% higher than the same time last year.
Crew with patientCrew with patient
Crew with patient

The East of Engalnd Ambulance service is now on arecruitment drive for more staff.

EEAST says between April and June the number of Red 1 calls - for patients in a life-threatening condition - increased by 5.2% compared to the first quarter of 2015.

And in July - the start of the second quarter - the 999 tally was 92,595 calls, nearly 12,000 calls more than April, when call handlers received 80,620 calls.

Robert Morton, EEAST Chief Executive, said response times were improving week-on-week, but urged that with increasing activity and demand for performance improvement, more people were needed to help improve capacity to deliver the services expected.

These include filling hundreds of vacancies for intermediate and advanced ambulance practitioners, and the introduction of better clinical career pathway for patient-facing staff.

​“Our student paramedics are gaining practice out on the road but this year, most of these students must return to university and will not begin to qualify and be eligible to be fully registered until next March with regular cohorts qualifying and registering up to the middle of 2018. We are doing a lot of work to become a more clinically-focused organisation, that’s patient driven and responsive, with work on a type of clinical hub to shape our response to all 999 calls we receive but we need people to apply for these roles now in order to improve our capacity.”

Vacancies in the patient transport service arm of the trust are also being advertised this month. These are to help people with routine appointments at places like hospitals who need help in getting there.

For more information on the Trust’s It’s your call campaign, and recruitment opportunities, visit www.eastamb.nhs.uk and http://www.jobs.nhs.uk

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