Volunteers thanked for their service
The NHS’s 70th birthday celebrations are casting a light over the vital contribution that North East ambulance service volunteers make across the service.
North East Ambulance Service held its annual Volunteer Recognition Event at Choppington Social Welfare Centre last night (Wednesday, 6 June) as part of Volunteer’s Week to thank those already supporting the Trust by volunteering and hopes to inspire future generations to play their part in shaping the next 70 years of innovation and care.
More than 80 of the Trust’s volunteers were thanked for their support.
The Trust, which covers 3,200 square miles across the North East region, 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, with support from 330 volunteers.
Whether as a volunteer porter, ambulance car service driver, community first responder or governor, NEAS volunteers invest thousands of hours in the service every year with some choosing to volunteer to help them in their career path and others want to give something back at the end of their career.
In total, 67 volunteers were recognised for long service of between two and 20 years and 14 will be highlighted for going the extra mile for their patients.
One volunteer received a certificate to recognise over 20 year dedication to supporting the Trust along with four volunteers recognised for 15 years’ service, six volunteers for 10 years’ service and 39 volunteers for five years’ service.
A number of volunteers were also presented with special recognition certificates following appreciations from members of the public and members of staff.
Yvonne Ormston, NEAS Chief Executive, said: “Volunteers make a significant contribution to their community in lots of ways in our organisation. Over the last 12 months, we have invested even more in our volunteers to ensure they have up to date skills and equipment to be an effective volunteer.
“Volunteering with NEAS gives people an opportunity to meet new people and invest in their community, often giving them experiences that will support their entering other NHS careers.
“Our staff and volunteers touch the lives of thousands of patients, and make a difference day in, day out. This event is about getting our volunteers together to show how much we appreciate their service and to say an enormous thank you for all that they do.”
More than 50 people volunteer as porters with the service, meeting patient transport crews at hospitals to and from vehicles to their hospital appointments.
Last year they helped nearly 5,000 patients at five of the region’s hospitals, saving crews over 530 hours so that they could be back on the road to their next patient, and completing over 6,000 shifts equating to more than 36,000 hours. They also assisted 2265 members of the public to make sure they got to the right department for their appointments.
This year NEAS has recruited 12 new porters and is currently looking at recruiting a further two in the near future. The Trust has supported the volunteers and offered programmes to help improve their IT skills as well as BLS CPR and First Aid Training and provided the opportunity for them to observe with crews.
Over 150 people volunteer as ambulance car service drivers (ACS) for NEAS. At least 11 of them have volunteered for over 10 years and one has volunteered for over 20. Together they have completed a combined 939 years of volunteer service. ACS drivers use their own vehicles to help transport patients to and from hospitals and clinics, which keeps ambulances free for emergencies and for patients too ill to travel by car. Last year the drivers completed patient journeys all over the region and reached over 3,900,000 miles.
All ambulance care service drivers are issued with a smart phone and ACS car signs as well as a full uniform. NEAS has provided ACS drivers with the opportunity to develop their skills by offering BLS CPR and First Aid Training and IT skills courses.
Jean and Tom Metcalfe, of Acomb, regularly use the ambulance car service to allow Jean to attend eye appointments in Sunderland. They submitted an appreciation for Bob Pattinson after being impressed with his manner.
“I couldn’t do without the ambulance car service as I’m unable to drive when I’ve been to an appointment,” said Jean.
“Each and every driver we have from the service is wonderful, they’re so reliable and so caring, but Bob is that extra special – he’s very joyous, full of fun and you would never feel low when in his company.”
Jean’s appreciation was one of many to earn Bob a special recognition certificate.
The 52-year-old, of Blyth, who only began volunteering with the service in November 2017 after a career in the military, said: “I like to help people – I have done all my life – I can talk for England and I love driving so this volunteering opportunity was an ideal opportunity for me. This is my way of giving something back and I love it, you meet so many different people from all walks of life.
“People generally don’t like going to hospital, especially as they get older, so if I can ensure that my payment has had an enjoyable journey then I’ve achieved my goal.
“I was overwhelmed to receive this recognition. I just do what I’m asked to do, I don’t see it as anything special. All my working life I’ve given 100 per cent and that’s what I continue to do now in this role.”
The service also values the support of approximately 100 community first responders (CFRs) who have been recruited and trained to respond to emergency calls when dispatched by ambulance control. They deal with a specific list of emergencies and provide the patient with support and appropriate treatment until an ambulance arrives.
Their aim is to provide immediate care to a patient where every second counts; a patient who suffers a cardiac arrest stands a much better chance of survival if a fully trained person with a defibrillator can attend the patient in the first minutes of collapse. Last year community first responders volunteered for nearly 23,000 hours, attending to 1,000 patients across the region.
NEAS has boosted the recruitment of CFRs over the last 12 months, welcoming a number of new people to the team, with training to develop their skills through the introduction of a nationally recognised level three qualification. 37 CFRs are now trained to deliver awareness sessions around CPR and defibrillation in their communities as well as the British Heart Foundation’s HeartStart with access to training mannequins to support them when attending a public event or providing training. In the last year, 6725 people have been shown how to carry out CPR and use a defibrillator, 3410 of which were taught by our volunteers.
Upgraded uniforms and new equipment such as new pagers, belt clips and docking stations are giving our CFRs better access to ambulance control as well as greater protection against the elements when responding, making them clearly identifiable in public places.
If you’re interested in volunteering with NEAS, visit http://bit.ly/neasvolunteers
Notes to editors
For more information, contact the NEAS press office on 0191 430 2099 or email publicrelations@neas.nhs.uk
About North East Ambulance Service
North East Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (NEAS) covers 3,200 square miles across the North East region. It employs more than 2,600 staff and serves a population of 2.7 million people by handling all NHS111 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.
In 2017/18 the service answered over 1.4 million emergency 999 and NHS 111 calls, responded to 280,00 incidents that resulted in a patient being taken to hospital, treated and discharged 27,000 patients with telephone advice and treated and discharged over 100,000 patients at home. In the same year, clinical crews responded to 126,746 of our highest priority patients within the national targets and scheduled care crews completed almost 580,000 patient transport journeys.
The following volunteers also received recognition certificates
Bill Baty, Janice Robinson & Gordon Finlay
These three tireless volunteers have a combined length of service of over 34 years. In addition to their regular volunteer driving shifts, their contribution to our Volunteer Focus Committee meetings has been exceptional and is extremely valued. They consistently provide constructive input and feedback from their fellow volunteers in the various areas of the North East that they cover.
Robert Brebner – Ambulance Car Service
In the last three years of volunteering with NEAS, Bob has received no less than eight comments by way of letters or telephone calls from patients who had specifically contacted us to pass on their appreciation of his kind and courteous manner whilst transporting them.
Alan Cornish – Porter
Alan has volunteered as a hospital porter for almost three years and is always on hand to offer his guidance to visitors who require directions within the hospital and to offer his assistance in taking patients to and from their required departments.
He constantly conducts himself in a professional manner and is a very polite and approachable person. He can be relied upon to provide help when asked and he always carries out his duties with a smile. He has the utmost respect for all patients and staff whilst volunteering and patients often comment on his outstanding dedication.
Alvin Purvis – Community First Responder
Alvin is an employee of NEAS for the past four years who also finds time to volunteer for us as a CFR, in addition to this Alvin also helps the CFR team with CPR and D-Fib training. This has resulted in a recent group commenting on how very professional, fun and interesting the course was, they also said that Alvin was a great credit to NEAS and the NHS. Alvin also recently supported the volunteer development team.
Nigel Eliot - Ambulance Car Service
Nigel has almost five years’ service with NEAS and he goes about his volunteering with a quiet unassuming diligence. A typical example of what Nigel is like is in regards to a dialysis patient whose journey home after treatment was always around 11pm each Monday, Wednesday and Friday. For many months after a day’s volunteering, Nigel used to come back out to take him home each night. This was approximately a 100 mile round trip and the area is very remote. The patient sadly passed away in July last year and the patient’s wife rang Nigel to inform him but also to thank him for everything he had done for the patient over his last few months. It had meant a lot to the patient and his family to have a regular driver they could rely on during his treatment.
Graeme Smith – Community First Responder
Graeme has volunteered as a CFR for less than a year. He is dedicated to assisting as and when he can to his community. Graeme was praised by a member of the public as a result of his actions whilst he was out with his own family. The incident was as a result of a gentleman choking on his food. Graeme kept calm whilst he and another man managed to control the situation where pandemonium had set in, the situation had detreated to a point that the gentleman stopped breathing and CPR was required. This was continued until the ambulance arrived.
Phillip Birt – Ambulance Car Service
Phil was recognised by his colleagues in the Emergency Operations Centre for his dedication and commitment. Although he has only volunteered with NEAS for a short time, he has shown his caring ability to assist us in times of escalation. This winter, during ‘The Beast from the East’, he went regularly turned out in outlying remote areas in his 4x4 to ensure critical patients were able to attend their dialysis appointments.
Terry Eccles - Ambulance Car Service
Terry has been volunteering with NEAS for almost eight years and was recognised by his colleagues in the Emergency Operations Centre for his support during ‘The Beast from the East’, where he carried on volunteer driving all day regardless of very poor road conditions and returned a patient from Hexham to Alnwick before then continuing on to return numerous Alnwick dialysis patients home. Terry didn’t drop off his last patient until 8pm but then found himself stranded in Alnwick due to the worsening road conditions. Fortunately, he managed to call a friend in Alnwick and stayed overnight with them. The next morning before attempting to return home he still rang in to ask if we needed any help moving anyone from Alnwick into Wansbeck/Newcastle.
Dunmail Hodkinson – Community First Responder
Dunmail has been a CFR since 2010 and for years has been logging on for 50-60 hours each week. He has been a Heartstart instructor for five years and he looks after training for two of his local schools. He has delivered over 60 separate training sessions to over 500 people in cPAD Awareness and Heartstart sessions which has included a televised session for Hexham Abbey which has had over 150 views. Dunmail has assisted guardians for 10 sites for NEAS and the Stephen Carey Fund, being a point of contact to deal with any issues with the cPAD sites.
Bryn Howard – Porter
Bryn’s dedication to NEAS is outstanding and this young man has developed considerably as an independent individual over the past three years with us. The ACS volunteer drivers all comment that he is always cheerful and willing to do anything asked of him. One driver noted that “Every patient he collects for me has nothing but praise for him”. Bryn has also just recently returned from travelling to London to be presented with a gold Duke of Edinburgh’s Award.
Stephen Howard – Ambulance Car Service
Stephen has been a volunteer driver for seven years and for the time and effort he puts in he has been described as “one in million”, “a true friend” and “a pleasure to work with” someone that often goes that extra mile. Steven is known to always make time to speak to the volunteers porters at the RVI and other hospitals.