Well-deserved thanks for North East Ambulance Service volunteers
More than 60 volunteers were thanked for their support at a celebratory event held by North East Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust yesterday.
The event, held at Choppington Social Welfare Centre, was organised as part of Volunteers Week, which runs from June 1-7.
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 over 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, 62 volunteers were recognised for long service of between five and 20 years and 12 were highlighted for going the extra mile for their patients.
Two volunteers received certificates to recognise their 20 year dedication to supporting the Trust along with 13 volunteers recognised for 15 year service, 18 volunteers for 10 year service and 28 volunteers for five year service.
One of the volunteers who received a special recognition at the awards ceremony is Gloria Middleton from County Durham. Gloria has worked in the NHS for 30 years and 11yrs ago she volunteered to be a CFR for NEAS. Since then she has received ongoing training and responds from home or at peak times from work providing lifesaving immediate first aid in those vital minutes before an ambulance arrives if needed.
She says, “I became a volunteer for several reasons, I wanted to support emergency health services, primary and secondary care at times when everyone, whether it be due to winter pressures or patient demand, were working to full capacity and to help those in their time of need.
“I believe that if we all give a little and help someone in their time of need the world would be a better place. Knowing you have helped someone, saving their life, speaking a kind word, giving a smile, holding their hand and listening is something that no amount of money can buy, but it can make a whole difference to the person on the receiving end.”
She added. “I love being a volunteer. I just want to give something back to the community and that is why I volunteer.”
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.”
Nearly 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 7000 patients at five of the region’s hospitals, saving crews over 800 hours so that they could be back on the road to their next patient, and completing over 8800 shifts equating to more than 27,500 hours. They also assisted 2393 members of the public to make sure they got to the right department for their appointments. This year NEAS has recruited 57 new porters and is currently looking at recruiting a further 15 in the near future. We have supported the volunteer supporters 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 both A&E and Patient Transport Service crews.
Over 190 people volunteer as ambulance car service drivers (ACS) for NEAS. At least 23 of them have volunteered for over 10 years and two have volunteered for over 20. Together they have completed a combined 993 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 volunteered over 195,000 hours, completing over 148,000 patient journeys all over the region – that’s an average of nearly 8.5 hours per day each – and reached over 4,000,000 miles.
All ambulance care service drivers will soon be issued with a new smart phone to replace the current tablet devices and have received new ACS car signs as well as uniform trousers. NEAS has provided ACS drivers with the opportunity to develop their skills by offering BLS CPR and First Aid Training and IT skills courses.
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 1000 hours, attending to 1,269 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. Fourteen existing CFRs are now trained to deliver Heart Start and CPad awareness sessions in their communities with access to training mannequins to support them when attending a public event or providing CPad awareness training.
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.
Notes to editors
Media contact: Sam Reed at North East Ambulance Service, Tel: 0191 4302099 or 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 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.
In 2016/17 the service answered over 1 million emergency 999 and NHS 111 calls, responded to almost 300,00 incidents that resulted in a patient being taken to hospital, treated and discharged 24,000 patients with telephone advice and treated and discharged 92,141 patients at home. In the same year, emergency care crews responded to 126,673 Red incidents within national target of 8 minutes and completed 717,315 patient transport journeys.
Case studies of volunteers
Volunteer Community First Responders
Community First Responder, Mark Mather was recognised tonight for his support at an incident with Paramedic Wayne McKay. The incident was at a farm where there were two people injured after falling from horses. Mark not only supported the ambulance crew to treat the patients but when the air ambulance needed to land and there were concerns about livestock in the nearby fields, he used his own skills as a farmer to shepherd the animals to safety and clear the land for a safe arrival of the air crew to reach the patient. He was reported the crew as having been a huge support. Farmer Mark Mather from Wooler, Northumberland, has been a community first responder at NEAS since November 2013. A retired fire fighter, Mark now lives on a farm in a rural area surrounded by 2,500 sheep. Mark explains, “I joined the CFR programme as I loved the fire service and I wanted to make a difference to someone’s life as I wouldn’t be here myself if it wasn’t for the ambulance service, I was in an accident at work and had to have my leg amputated, the ambulance service responded and got me to the hospital for treatment. As I live in a rural community, we may not get an ambulance as quickly as expected. Being a CFR has provided a great opportunity to make a huge difference to my community.”
Husband and wife team, Sue and Peter Davison have been a formidable force in the Allendale area for the past 13 years as community first responders. Formerly a security manager and hospital housekeeper, the two have helped to keep a community response available in their area, helping many of their neighbours at times of need, before ill health forced them to retire recently. Hoping that some other residents might pick up where they left off, Sue and Peter know only too well what a difference their help has made, be it just to hold a person’s hand, or on occasion to deliver CPR or even defibrillation. The two feel passionately about supporting the ambulance service and are incredibly complimentary about the support, training and equipment that is now available for responders. They say their biggest reward was to work as a team with ambulance staff and on occasion to receive a thankyou from a paramedic, patient or family member – that’s what made all of those middle of the night call outs worth it!
Retired health and safety training co-ordinator at Glaxo Smith Kline, Sue Bainbridge has been putting her skills to community use in her hometown of Middleton in Teasdale where she operates as a CFR and life-saving skills trainer. Having joined the North East Ambulance Service’s army of volunteers over 5 years ago, Sue has delivered awareness sessions on how to use a defibrillator and deliver CPR to over 200 local people, helping to make sure people across her community know how to react in an emergency. She enjoys supporting the ambulance crews and explains her defining moment since becoming a CFR being when a neighbour brought her choking child to the door in a panic for help and Sue was able to bravely clear his airway
Volunteer porters
Peter Devlin, 48 from North Shields and has volunteered as a Porter for just under one year. Previous to volunteering with the trust he worked for Remploy for 14 years and also volunteers for North Tyneside General Hospital in the RVS shop. He said, “I wanted to do some volunteering work to meet people and to help with my CV. I wanted to be a full time porter at my local hospital, it didn’t work out, but I got the opportunity to volunteer in a similar role. I find it very enjoyable and I get on very well with the other volunteers and hospital staff.”
Porter Bryn Howard, 24, from Sunderland has volunteered with the trust since November 2015. Previous to volunteering Bryn was a student with ESPA (Education and Services for People with Autism) doing a project on media and music. He said, “I love working with people of all ages, other volunteers and staff in the hospitals. I like to keep busy and I find it very enjoyable.”
Andrew John Johnson from Whitley Bay, has been a volunteer porter since March 17 volunteering at the Freeman Hospital has been nominated by NEAS after a member of staff visited the Freeman hospital and saw first-hand his interaction not only with the patients waiting for transport but the public in general. Considering that Andy had only been volunteering for just about a month he has embraced the role of the volunteer porter and the purpose it was introduced, to assist the patients and make them feel at ease whilst at hospital. Andrew had contacted control several times to check on a patient’s transport. He has received appreciation from patients and their escorts who have commented on how helpful, pleasant and cheerful Andrew is.
Volunteer Ambulance Car Service drivers
Ambulance car service driver David Richardson from County Durham, started volunteering in 2009 and worked as a HGV Lorry driver for 18 years prior. David has personal experience being treated by the NHS during his triple heart bypass. He said, “I volunteered to give something back to the NHS as they helped me when I needed it most and I wanted to do something good.”
Michael Grice from Newcastle upon Tyne, volunteers at NEAS as an ambulance car service driver and had worked in various roles within the transport service before joining NEAS. Michael says, “I wanted to do a worthwhile job helping patients get to and from hospital.” A family man himself, with a wife and daughter who work as Nurses he added, “Being a volunteer has a benefit to patients, there are a lot of elderly patients with no means of transport and no close family which they can rely on and that’s where the ambulance and ACS drivers really can help.”
Convenience store owner, Graham Kirkup from Durham, has been an ambulance car service driver since December 2016. Due to his wife being ill, Graham joined NEAS as a volunteer to give something back and to help put other patients at ease during difficult times. He says, “If it wasn’t for the help from volunteers the service would not be able to cope with the volume of calls and patients. I find that patients really appreciate the service, we are like friends as we regularly take them to and from appointments.”
Kevin Marchant, lives in Shilbottle, Alnwick with his wife, Son aged 21 and daughter 14 and has volunteered for the service since April 2008. Previous to volunteering Kevin became a qualified craftsman and worked for the Marines, he then went on to become a college lecturer but left due to health reasons. Kevin worked for the social services and provided support to vulnerable adults; this work was one of the reasons why he wanted to get into volunteering and being able to give back to the community. He said, “The service we provide benefits the patients and the service, and the area in which I live is widespread and an aging population in Northumberland. Some patients are just not capable of getting on a bus and travelling to a hospital.”
Neil Fraser from South Tyneside lives with his wife and two west highland terriers has volunteered for the service since November 2012. Neil previously owned a taxi business and currently owns a flower shop business with his wife. His father-in-law had volunteered for the North East Ambulance Service and talked about what he did and Neil decided to volunteer himself. He said, “The benefit to the patients is being able to provide a service for those who are not able to travel to hospital. I also enjoy talking to patients about my fishing boat, as I like to travel out to sea, the patients seem to find it very interesting.”