Senior NHS leader visits North East

One of the most senior leaders in the transformation of the urgent and emergency care services across the NHS in England, Professor Keith Willett CBE, visited North East Ambulance Service (NEAS) today to find out more about how the Trust is driving change in the region.

Prof Willett is Professor of Orthopaedic Trauma Surgery at the University of Oxford and NHS England’s Director for Acute Care, which means he has national medical oversight of acute NHS services including pre-hospital and ambulance services, emergency departments, urgent surgery and acute medicine, and national major incidents.

A key national policy influencer, Prof Willett travelled to the region to meet NEAS Chief Executive Yvonne Ormston and her team to understand how they are pioneering change across urgent and emergency care and transforming from a transport to treatment service provider.

He visited NEAS headquarters in Newcastle, where he was able to see first-hand how dual trained NHS111 and 999 call handlers and a developing Clinical Assessment Centre are diverting people away from busy emergency departments and referring them to more specialist NHS services in the community, where it is safe and appropriate to do so. 

He also had the opportunity to meet front-line clinicians, support services staff, volunteers and first responders for the ambulance service and discussed the new ambulance response standards being introduced later this year.

He said:  “It’s been rewarding and humbling to meet so many committed staff who are on the front line of ambulance services in the north east.

“These are early days for the new national ambulance response changes being rolled out but from what I have seen I am confident once fully introduced it will have a major positive impact for the communities NEAS serves. They have, particularly in recent years, been at the forefront on many innovations to benefit patients and are now well placed to maximise the opportunities these new ways of working offer.”

Mrs Ormston added: “Historically the core focus for the North East Ambulance Service was answering 999 calls, conveying patients to hospital and providing patient transport services.

“Our transformation of services is seeing us now directing more than 600,000 patients to the right care at the right time. And overseeing all of this activity, we have the clinical assessment service to ensure patients are treated by the right person and in the right place to avoid them facing long waits and unnecessary hospital admissions.”

Later during the visit, Prof Willett and Mrs Ormston together presented their visions for transforming urgent and emergency care to an audience of regional stakeholders and ambulance service employees. 

Mrs Ormston added that more than double the number of patients are now given care and treatment advice over the phone rather than conveyed to hospital compared with four years’ ago, despite an increase in the number of patients calling for help.

She said: “This has been a great opportunity for us to showcase to a wide audience how our ambulance service is driving change using collaboration and partnerships with neighbouring organisations who are also instrumental in delivering our vision.  It’s been as valuable for our workforce to see how our clinical developments, specialist response, technology and workforce investment are making a difference and we hope stakeholders and Professor Willett equally found the event of worthwhile.”

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