Looking back at the region’s ambulance service over the last year

A review of North East Ambulance Service (NEAS) highlights and challenges over the last year took place at the NHS Foundation Trust’s Annual General Meeting today at Sunderland Glass Centre.

Over 60 people were present, including representatives of the Trust, commissioners, local councils, GPs, MPs and other NHS services to hear from the Chief Executive, Yvonne Ormston and her executive team about the past year and plans for the next 12 months.

Entitled, ‘More than 999’, this year’s event also showcased the Trust’s NHS111 service, the single point of access for patients across the North East, which handled almost 670,000 calls from patients last financial year, 87% of which were supported without the need to send an ambulance or be referred to an emergency department.

North East Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (NEAS) covers 3,200 square miles across the North East region.  It employs more than 2,500 staff and serves a population of 2.7 million people by handling all NHS 111 and 999 calls for the region, operating patient transport and ambulance response services, delivering training for communities and commercial audiences and providing medical support cover at events.

Chief Executive, Yvonne Ormston said: “We have faced a challenging year, both as an ambulance service and a key part of the wider NHS with continued high demand, increased acuity of patients, system pressures and paramedic recruitment, set against a backdrop of reduced funding and a financial deficit. 

“Despite the pressures and challenges we continued to strive to improve our service and enhance the quality of our care with everything from a service for patients at the end of their life and a specialist cardiac arrest service, to closer working with fire services to provide emergency medical response and the integration of our care and transport services.

“What is clear, is that our dedicated and compassionate staff continue to prioritise the delivery of high quality patient care above all else.  We have had a renewed focus on our workforce over the past 12 months with the introduction of front line managers in emergency care, increased recruitment and development opportunities and greater investment in our people.  And it looks like it is working; our staff survey showed a significant improvement in the number of staff responding who would recommend the Trust as a place to work.

“For the future of urgent and emergency care, ambulance services are a key part of the health economy and the transformation of patient services.  We are bringing health care services much closer to home, helping deliver services through more effective triage of patients and reducing the pressure on GPs and Emergency Departments.  Over the next 12 months we will continue to work with partners to develop our services to improve patient pathways, ensure patient safety and invest in our workforce.”

The event was also an opportunity to meet the Board of Directors, view the annual accounts and the full annual report, and ask questions as part of the Open Forum.

Ashley Winter, NEAS Chairman, added: “We are incredibly proud of the services we offer and the amazing work carried out by our staff every day of the year.

“Over the last year, our service has answered 1.160 million emergency 999 and NHS 111 calls, responded to 295,855 incidents that resulted in a patient being taken to hospital, treated and discharged 19,949 patients with telephone advice and treated and discharged 85,021 patients at home.

“Our AGM provides us with the opportunity to reflect on the last year and our challenges and successes but it also allows us the opportunity to promote the other services we offer and show that we are so much more than 999.

“So much has been achieved over the last year and what we hope to achieve much more over the next year and beyond.”