Agenda item

The Committee considered a report from East Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust (EMAS) which provided key performance information for the Leicestershire area and an update on the Estates Strategy and the recruitment of frontline staff. A copy of the report marked ‘Agenda Item 11’ is filed with these minutes.

Arising from discussion the following points were raised:-

(i)       The Committee was concerned that EMAS was underperforming against the delivery of key operational performance targets, especially in rural areas. EMAS recognised this and would seek to make improvements by maximising available resources to meet demand forecast through its Performance Improvement Plan;

(ii)     Currently EMAS operational performance could only be broken down to county level, which consisted of the two County and Rutland Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) and the City CCG. This made it difficult to understand performance levels for the County Council area, separate from Leicester City. EMAS was currently developing a standard information pack to provide information spilt to local authority area, allowing for more localised and focused discussion in future operational and financial reporting;

(iii)    It was explained that there was a national trend for disparity in response times between urban and rural areas. Resources were split equally between the City and the County, however, due to the larger geographical size and relative difficulty in accessing more isolated rural areas, response times were generally slower in the County. To ensure an equitable service across the City and the County would require considerable additional investment;

(iv)   Resource levels, conveyance levels and turnaround were three key factors in delivering performance. For the Leicestershire and Rutland Divisional area non-conveyance, where patients were not taken to hospital after an ambulance was called, was the highest of any EMAS area as the aim was to reduce the volumes of patients attending the Leicester Royal Infirmary (LRI). Arrangements had been put in place jointly with UHL to undertake more effective and appropriate triage of patients;

(v)     Members queried EMAS’s operational scorecard and the omission of a number of hospitals in and around the Leicestershire area that received patients through EMAS. It was explained that the current Dashboard only provided information for the top four sites in terms of volume of patients received, but information that covered all patients from Leicestershire and all hospital sites attended would be provided in the future;

(vi)   It was noted that although October had not been an excessively high demand month, performance had been poor. The Committee was advised that in the Leicestershire divisional area 1200 hours had been lost due to slow hospital turnaround times and that there had also been significant pressure across the whole of EMAS’s operational area during this period. The Committee sought assurances that action was being undertaken to mitigate the current pressures faced, especially in light of the coming winter months which would see a much greater demand on both EMAS and UHL, and was advised that EMAS was now working directly with the LRI through an operational manager and was engaging with the local CCGs and the NHS Trust Development Authority to improve hospital turnaround times;

(vii)  Another area of concern in the Leicestershire area had been the recruitment and retention of frontline staff, predominantly Team Leaders and Clinical Team Mentors, many of whom had moved to other providers with better Terms of Employment and working hours. In response to this a rolling recruitment process had been put in place as part of a local management review. In the interim, support from other areas of EMAS had been sought, pending permanent recruitment to vacant posts.        

RESOLVED:

(a)  That the key performance information provided for the East Midlands Ambulance Service Divisional area of Leicestershire and update on the Estates Strategy and frontline staff recruitment be noted;

(b)  That members be provided with additional hospital turnaround information that covers all patients from Leicestershire and all hospital sites attended, for the year to date.