Scottish Ambulance Service – Page 6 – The NEN

Nearly 50% of 999 calls being managed outwith Emergency Departments

The Scottish Ambulance Service is managing nearly 50% of the 999 calls it receives without the need to take patients to Emergency Departments across Scotland

The Scottish Ambulance Service is managing nearly 50% of the 999 calls it receives without the need to take patients to Emergency Departments across Scotland.

Latest figures for the Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) in October 2022 show that the proportion of patients being cared for out with Emergency Departments was 49.1%.

This was made up of 24.9% of patients who were managed at the point of call and a further 24.2% whose care was managed by SAS clinicians on scene.

These results have been achieved through a range of initiatives, including working closely with partners to increase the range of alternative clinical pathways in communities which support the Service to deliver care closer to home, accessing Health Board Flow Navigation Centres, expanding our Mental Health pathway access, and utilising highly-trained staff in remote clinical consultation and assessment.

The Service’s central Pathway Navigation Hub also continues to increase the volume of calls it manages, connecting patients with services and communicating pathway information to SAS clinicians.

The figures are released as the Service launches its Integrated Clinical Hub, co-ordinated through the SAS Ambulance Control Centres in the west, north and east of Scotland.

Health secretary Humza Yousaf visited the Service’s East ACC base n South Queensferry yesterday to meet SAS Chief Executive Pauline Howie and Chair Tom Steele, along with key staff involved in the Integrated Clinical Hub. The Health Secretary also thanked staff for their dedication over the past year.

Using a multi-disciplinary network of skilled clinical staff across Scotland, the Hub gives SAS the ability to provide a detailed consultation for patients whose initial 999 triage has ruled out time-critical illness. The hub will operate 24 hours a day, to ensure patients receive the best possible response to their need when they dial 999.

SAS Chief Executive Pauline Howie said: “The number of patients being cared for out with hospital Emergency Departments remains substantial and as we head into a challenging winter period, it’s vital we work together with our health board and community colleagues to find ways of delivering the right care for individuals and easing pressure on Emergency Departments.

“We are focussed on continuing to develop our clinical care model to support more patients in communities where it is safe to do so and to ensure patients get the right care, at the right time.

“The clinical decision-making roles within our Integrated Clinical Hub all have a role to play in understanding patients’ need at point of call, and that they receive the most appropriate care and support to ensure there is a positive impact across the whole system.

“If the patient’s symptoms are not immediately life-threatening, they can then benefit from a clinical assessment with a senior experienced clinician to agree how help can be best provided. Frontline emergency clinicians can also be supported by more senior clinical staff via telephone and video, aiming to enable the patient to access the most appropriate pathway or care provision to address their need. This can help reduce pressure within Scotland’s Emergency Departments.

“To help our staff, we also would like to remind people that if you need urgent care, but it’s not life-threatening, you can call NHS 24 on 111, day or night, or your GP during opening hours.”

Health Secretary Humza Yousaf said: ““We are facing a challenging winter ahead for the NHS and it’s initiatives such as the integrated clinical hub that can help ensure patients receive appropriate care at home or in the community and alleviate pressures on our already busy A&E departments.

“There are a range of pathways of care and not every call to 999 needs an ambulance or a trip to A&E as demonstrated by stats out today. Experienced clinical staff are on hand to triage calls and get patients the right care at the right place.

“Once again, I would like to thank Scottish Ambulance Service staff for their tremendous work and dedication.”

Joint working to reduce violence against workers under the National Assault Pledge

Emergency services, prosecutors and health colleagues are among those supporting a National Assault Pledge underlining a joint commitment to reduce violence and abuse against workers.

The National Assault Pledge builds upon Chief Constable Sir Iain Livingstone’s Assault Pledge, developed in response to a concerning increase in violence and abuse against Police Scotland officers and staff. The Chief Constable’s Assault Pledge was published in August 2020 with the support of the then Lord Advocate and Cabinet Secretary for Justice.

Since then, local pledges have been developed by services in Ayrshire and Dumfries and Galloway.

The national partnership group includes British Transport Police, NHS Scotland, Scottish Prison Service, Scottish Ambulance Service and others. The group will share best practice, develop preventative measures and use consistent messaging in their workplace to support and encourage staff to report incidents.

The National Assault Pledge was agreed by signatories at an event at Police Scotland Headquarters, Tulliallan, on Tuesday, 15 November.

Deputy Chief Constable Fiona Taylor QPM has been leading Police Scotland’s drive to reduce the impact violence and abuse has on officers and staff and introduce measures to improve their safety.

DCC Taylor said: “Being the victim of an assault can have a long lasting impact both physically and mentally. It’s not simply part of the job.

“Working in partnership with a number of key organisations highlights our collective approach and united pledge to reduce assaults at work.

“I want our officers and staff to feel supported and this partnership adds to work already ongoing in this area.”

Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain KC said: “Assaults on front line workers will not be tolerated and Scotland’s prosecutors will help protect their safety through robust action.

“The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service work closely with police to ensure the effective investigation and prosecution of crime.

“Any criminal behaviour that threatens public safety and the safety of front line workers will be taken very seriously.”

In 2021/22, there were 7,858 common assaults against emergency workers – an increase of 12 per cent compared to the previous year. Over 7,000 of these were against police officers and staff.

Improved operational safety training, a Taser uplift programme and partnership with the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service to introduce impact statements are some of the work that has been driven within Police Scotland to support officer and staff safety.

Woman reunited with SAS emergency responder who saved her life

A woman who had a cardiac arrest in the Botanic Gardens has been reunited with one of the Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) staff members who saved her life.

Jeanne Reilly, of Berkshire, recently returned to Edinburgh with family and friends to attend the unveiling of a new defibrillator installed at the same location where she collapsed on July 30 last year.

Her friend Jane Wood, who was with Jeanne when she went into arrest, instigated the efforts to have the defibrillator installed, and raised £2086 through family and friends.

A retired GP and an off duty doctor performed CPR immediately and used a nearby defib while an emergency call was placed with the Scottish Ambulance Service, which was received by Lindsey Brady, of West Ambulance Control Centre (ACC) in Glasgow.

Aidan Colliar and Audrey Michie, of the East ACC in Edinburgh, then dispatched Nickie Crowe, on a Paramedic Response Unit, and ambulance crew Ian Harwood and Ricky Moffat, of Dalkeith Station.

They arrived within two minutes of the call being received and Jeanne was transported to hospital and “kept alive” in the ambulance on the way to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.

Jeanne said: “I was very pleased to see the newly installed defibrillator at the Terrace Café and it was a privilege to meet ambulance crew member Ian in person.

“We have all since spoken so fondly of the opportunity to meet together. Shiona Mackie, the retired GP, met us all again shortly after and gave us a tour of the Botanics in her capacity as a volunteer tour guide – that was special too.

“I was thrilled that Ian had driven so quickly from the Botanics to the Hospital. Putting names to faces and filling in some gaps in my experience has given me a sense of peace.”

Speaking of the cardiac arrest, she said she was given CPR and a defibrillator was used prior to the crew arriving. She added: “They arrived very quickly and then took me to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, giving me another shock in the ambulance.

“I spent 12 days in hospital, have a stent and ICD fitted and I am on the mend to lead a normal life again. I owe my life to all involved. I have been able to thank others personally, and my family and myself send thanks and more to the crew.”

She said it was vital for people to learn CPR skills for this year’s Restart a Heart Day on Sunday.

“Had it not been for the quick thinking of everyone, I would not be back to enjoying life. The expertise of the ambulance paramedics kept me alive while I made the journey to the Edinburgh Infirmary. The medical team in ICU took over from there.

“I hope that more people are educated about where to find a defibrillator and how to use one, so that the percentage of those who survive a cardiac arrest out of hospital can increase.”

To find out more about CPR, visit the Save a Life for Scotland website at www.savealife.scot

Scottish Ambulance Service launches use of life-saving app to alert those with CPR knowledge

To coincide with Restart a Heart Day 2022, the Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) has rolled out the use of a life-saving app to the whole of Scotland, which can alert those with CPR knowledge to attend a nearby cardiac arrest.

Every year about 3,200 people in Scotland are treated by the Ambulance Service after having a cardiac arrest. Every second counts when someone has had a cardiac arrest and by equipping bystanders with the tools to help, through dialling 999, starting CPR and using a defibrillator, those suffering a cardiac arrest have a greater chance of survival.

The GoodSAM smartphone app is a mechanism that allows the ambulance service to alert responders in the community to the location of someone suffering a cardiac arrest. Once alerted, and the alert is accepted, it instantly shares the location of a 999 call, to notify those who are registered with the app and are within 1000m of the incident, so that they can quickly respond to provide potentially lifesaving cardio-pulmonary life support (CPR).

SAS first began using the app in 2020 to alert off-duty ambulance service staff to a nearby out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. The app has also been successfully trialled with Community Cardiac Responders in the Grampian region since 2021, and now it will be used by SAS across Scotland.

GoodSAM has been adopted by other ambulance services around the world, including ambulance services in the UK and in Australia. There are currently 1,500,000 users worldwide and since the app was launched there have been over 3,000,000 alerts globally.

The use of the GoodSAM app is supported by The Save a Life for Scotland campaign, to help everyone living in Scotland learn how they can help save a life when someone suffers an out of hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). They can do this by recognising there is a problem, calling 999 and starting CPR with the support of an ambulance service call handler.

Programme Lead for Out-of-Hospital-Cardiac Arrest, Steven Short, who is leading the campaign, says: “With this roll-out of the GoodSAM app, anyone who has CPR knowledge can be a life-saver. When someone is in cardiac-arrest, immediate bystander action can mean the difference between life and death.

“By alerting those who are closest, they can begin CPR while waiting for help from the ambulance service to arrive. This may mean that people from all walks of life will turn up to an incident, and with their knowledge, they can begin the CPR, vital in keeping someone alive until help arrives.”

The GoodSAM app can be downloaded from a smartphone app store by anyone with CPR knowledge, and once registered and validated, the user will be sent alert if there has been a 999 call to a cardiac arrest within 1000 metres.

Ian Hendry is a SAS Wildcat Cardiac Responder, who uses the GoodSAM app to respond to emergency calls across North East Scotland.

Ian says: “Providing the immediate care required for patients is vital should an out-of-hospital-cardiac arrest occur, and being able to arrive quickly and commence CPR is essential. Upon arrival, the technicians and paramedics will assume the lead, and we’ll focus on supporting the family or loved ones, and 2that aspect is also very rewarding.

“As a responder, it can at times be challenging depending on the situation we are faced with but we receive regular training, have the opportunity to meet other responders where we can share different scenarios and experiences, and we also have great support from the team at the Scottish Ambulance Service.

“It is humbling to witness the amazing care the SAS staff deliver to patients on a daily basis and to be able to support them in a small way is very rewarding.”

Lisa MacInnes, Director of the Save a Life for Scotland campaign said: “Our aim is to equip everyone living in Scotland with CPR and skills and help them be CPR ready, because when someone has a cardiac arrest, every second counts.

“When someone has a cardiac arrest, they need urgent help and with the launch of the GoodSAM app in Scotland, you could be that help.

“We’re asking anyone in Scotland who knows CPR to sign-up and make themselves available to this life saving service. When the minutes are so important you could be the difference in helping a stranger in need who’s just around the corner or a neighbour who needs your help.”

To find out more about the GoodSAM app rollout, refresh your CPR skill and sign up to the app, please visit the Save a Life for Scotland GoodSAM pages at savealife.scot/goodsam

Record recruitment to Scotland’s Ambulance Service

Recruitment to Scotland’s ambulance service has hit a record high, helping to boost the service this winter. A record 540 paramedics, ambulance drivers, call handlers, and clinicians have been employed in the last year.

This is driven by a £45 million funding boost announced as part of last week’s NHS winter resilience plan, which will ensure the NHS is working as efficiently as possible.

The increase in staff numbers is already having a tangible impact on response times – with 99% of all serious incidents, such as heart attacks, being dealt with in under 30 minutes.

The investment will increase the number of patients treated in the community, reducing the need for hospital admission and easing pressure on NHS services.

On a visit to an ambulance station in Edinburgh, Health Secretary, Humza Yousaf said: “This winter will be one of the most challenging our NHS has ever faced, and we need to make sure people are getting the right care, in the right place, at the right time.

“We are determined to equip the Scottish Ambulance Service with the resources and staff to continue to deliver a high-quality emergency service to the people of Scotland.

“Ambulance staff have shown remarkable resilience in the face of sustained pressure on services and I would like to thank them for their continued commitment and hard work.”

Pauline Howie, Scottish Ambulance Service Chief Executive said: “The last 12 months have been the busiest ever in terms of recruitment for the Service and this funding announcement is great news as we continue to experience unprecedented pressures on our services alongside the entire NHS.

“With the increased demand for our services, it’s vital we boost our capacity and resilience by introducing extra resources and staffing. These new staff will complement our existing staff who have done an amazing job before and right throughout the pandemic, providing the very best patient care to communities across the country.”

Shannen McLoughlin is a newly qualified paramedic who has graduated from the University of Central Lancashire (UCLAN) and started with the Scottish Ambulance Service in October 2021.

She said: “I absolutely love my job and have already been fortunate enough to have worked with a number of fantastic paramedics. I found this really benefited my practice and allowed me to get to grips with the transitional role from a student paramedic to a newly qualified paramedic.

“There is such a wide variety of jobs on a shift, there really is never a dull moment and that is why I am so glad I chose to become a paramedic in Edinburgh.”

Those recruitment figures are good news for our beleaguered NHS, but the Tory opposition are keeping up the pressure on Humzah Yousaf:

Scottish Ambulance Service launch Air Ambulance Public Meetings

The Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) is holding three virtual meetings this month for the public to provide feedback on its Air Ambulance Service prior to its re-procurement.

The meetings will take place via Zoom on 22, 26 and 29 September at 7pm- 8pm and will build on questionnaire feedback from the first phase of the Air Ambulance re-procurement consultation and engagement programme which ran earlier this year.

The Air Ambulance Service, which is funded in its entirety by the Scottish Government, transfers patients living in remote, rural and island communities to and from hospital. It also provides air ambulance support to the ScotSTAR retrieval teams and responds to 999 calls in a Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) role.

Currently, the service is delivered through a managed contract of two helicopters; one based in Glasgow and one in Inverness and two fixed wing aircraft; one at Aberdeen Airport and one at Glasgow Airport. In addition to the four government funded aircraft, the service is supplemented by two helicopters provided by Scotland’s Charity Air Ambulance.

A national multi-disciplinary team of paramedics, nurses, advanced practitioners, and doctors, work together to provide a flexible and responsive service that offers timely, safe and effective care for patients.

Paul Bassett, Chief Operating Officer at the Scottish Ambulance Service said: “These online meetings are a key part of our consultation and engagement work and their output will inform the re-procurement of our Air Ambulance Service prior to its renewal.

“It’s vital we collate as many views as possible, so I’d encourage people to join the meetings and share their opinions with us.”

To register your interest for an online meeting and to receive joining instructions, please contact sas.airamb@nhs.scot with your preferred date.

For those who cannot attend these sessions, please also contact the above email address and a consultation form will be sent to you week commencing 19 September.

Boost for patients as ambulance staff move into local fire station base

Over 20 ambulance staff have co-located to Edinburgh’s McDonald Road Fire Station in a move which will benefit patients in Edinburgh and Lothians.

The 25 Scottish Ambulance Service staff – a mixture of Paramedics and Technicians – along with two ambulances moved into the base on Monday 22 June.

The move is part of the Scottish Ambulance Service’s Demand and Capacity Programme, which has seen 540 additional frontline staff recruited in the last financial year, a record number, with plans for the next financial year to build on this.

The Demand and Capacity Programme is funded by the Scottish Government.

To accommodate the extra staff, eight co locations with the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service have been established across Scotland, including four in the Edinburgh area. The first three established were Sighthill, Crewe Toll and Penicuik. Edinburgh’s main station at Peffermill Industrial Estate will remain.

Kenny Freeburn, Regional Director for the East of Scotland with the Scottish Ambulance Service, said: “The past 12 months have been the busiest in terms of recruitment for the Scottish Ambulance Service and we are delighted to have moved to this new base alongside our emergency services colleagues at the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service. We look forward to working with them and building on existing relationships.

“There is now an aspect of multi-agency working and training that can take place between both services and as well as being a great new base for our staff, this move ensures that we continue to provide the very best care to patients in these communities.”

As in other co-locations, staff will work alongside fire service staff out of a separate room and they will be dispatched to incidents as per normal procedure through one of our three Ambulance Control Centres (ACC).

Area Commander Stephen Gourlay is the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service Local Senior Officer for Edinburgh City. He said: “These moves are part of a wider commitment between the SFRS and Scottish Ambulance Service to work even more closely together.

“Co-locations mean firefighters and ambulance service staff can regularly share knowledge and expertise while building rapport. It also presents an opportunity to better understand each other’s challenges. By working more closely together, communities and our organisations will see numerous benefits.”

Edinburgh cabbies sign up to carry naloxone as part of SAS campaign

The Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) has launched an initiative with Edinburgh’s Central Taxis to equip its taxi drivers with the life-saving drug naloxone, which temporarily reverses the effects of an opioid overdose.

Central Taxis is the largest taxi operator in Edinburgh, and their drivers have all been approached to carry out the necessary training and to carry naloxone in their cabs. Already, 36 drivers have signed up to complete the training.

Recognising the signs and symptoms of overdoses and the administration of naloxone can mean the difference between life and death. Naloxone is vital in reversing the life threatening effects of opioid overdose and can buy precious time while waiting for an ambulance to arrive.

Taxi drivers cover large areas in the region, and serve different communities on a daily basis, and so they are often likely to encounter an overdose before an ambulance is called.

This initiative is part of a wider campaign, Stop the Deaths, launched by the Scottish Government and the Scottish Drugs Forum, which seeks to reduce stigma and raise public awareness of how to recognise and intervene when someone has a drug overdose.

Inspired by the success of Glasgow Taxi’s naloxone campaign, launched in February 2022, Julie McCartney, SAS’s Drug Harm Reduction Lead for the East Region, worked with Central Taxis to encourage a similar campaign in the Lothians.

As part of this initiative, SAS is also working with their partners Edinburgh Alcohol & Drug Partnership (EADP), Scottish Drugs Forum (SDF), and Scottish Families Affected by Alcohol & Drugs (SFAD).

SDF is providing free access to online naloxone training for drivers, and the naloxone kits are being provided by SFAD, who will use their click and deliver service to distribute them to the drivers who request them.

Julie McCartney, SAS’s Drug Harm Reduction Lead for the East Region said: “The Scottish Ambulance Service Drug Harm Reduction team are delighted to be working with Edinburgh Central Taxis and our local partners, to raise public awareness of the importance of being able to identify an overdose, administer naloxone and call 999 for an ambulance.

“Public knowledge and understanding is key as we seek to address the stigma surrounding drug use and encourage a compassionate approach to those who are vulnerable and need our help. This forms part of a wider catalogue of work by the Scottish Ambulance Service to maximise every opportunity to support those who use drugs to access treatment and support direct from the scene of an emergency.”

Murray Fleming, Company Secretary, at Central Taxis said: “This is a great campaign. Our drivers are out and about 24 hours a day and are very much the eyes and the ears of the city.

“We’ve had a terrific initial response from drivers registering to complete the training, carry Naloxone and play their part in the Stop The Deaths initiative.

“We already provide a back-up service for the NHS and Ambulance service in Edinburgh and see ourselves as very much the fourth emergency service.”

Drugs Policy Minister Angela Constance said: “I welcome this joint initiative by Scottish Ambulance Service and Edinburgh taxi drivers which will result in more lives being saved through the use of the emergency treatment naloxone.

“The response to the Stop The Deaths campaign by the Scottish Drugs Forum and Scottish Government earlier this year has been very encouraging and in addition to saving lives, we hope it has helped reduce the stigmatisation of people at risk of overdose and those with a problematic drug use more broadly.

“Naloxone is one of a wide range of measures being used to address the public health emergency of drugs deaths, but it plays an important role and I hope people will continue to visit the “Stop The Deaths” website to find out more.”

David Williams, Joint Commissioning Officer from the Edinburgh Alcohol and Drugs Partnership, said: “For someone experiencing a drug overdose, Naloxone can be life-saving. Its ability to temporarily reverse the effects of opioid drugs such as heroin, buprenorphine, and methadone gives a crucial window of time to call an ambulance and get someone the critical medical support needed.

“The Edinburgh Alcohol and Drugs Partnership is therefore delighted to be supporting this initiative with Edinburgh Central Taxis. The more people who carry Naloxone kits in Scotland – and have the right training and awareness to administer it – the more drug related deaths can be prevented.

“We’re grateful to all those in Edinburgh’s taxi community who go on to sign up to this initiative and carry these life-saving kits.

“We would encourage anyone who might be in a position to use a kit and save a life to go to https://www.sfad.org.uk/support-services/take-home-naloxone or drop in to one of the local services who provide them.”

Scottish Ambulance Service: Extra staff and resources for West Lothian

The Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) is boosting its ambulance provision in West Lothian as part of its Demand and Capacity Programme.

The Demand and Capacity Programme is aimed at ensuring SAS is working as efficiently as possible and has resources in place to meet both current and projected future demand.

As part of the review, across Scotland an additional 540 frontline A&E staff have been recruited this financial year – the highest number of staff ever to have joined the Service in a single year.

The programme has been supported by £20m investment from the Scottish Government so far.

In West Lothian, Bo’Ness will receive an extra resource and the station will also gain an extra five staff this year.

Bathgate will increase its resources, moving from one vehicle to two 24/7 vehicles.

In total, across the East Region, there is an overall increase of 1940 Double Crew Ambulance hours.

Clair Wright, Area Service Manager for West Lothian, said: “This is welcome news for the West Lothian region and surrounding areas. We are committed to increasing our ambulance provision in and the past 12 months have been the busiest in terms of recruitment for the Scottish Ambulance Service.

“With the increased demand for our services, it’s vital we introduce extra resources and staffing. This will ensure we continue to deliver the very best patient care by boosting capacity and increasing our resilience in communities across Scotland.”

This increase in staffing and resources, coupled with alignment of shift patterns to patient demand profiles, aims to improve patient safety and staff welfare.

This year, additional ambulances have gone live in Edinburgh and Lothian, Greater Glasgow, Tayside, Grampian and Clyde.

SAS has also established seven new satellite stations, of which six are co-located with the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.

Breakdown of national staffing

The new staff include 414 Technicians, 25 Paramedics, 58 Newly Qualified Paramedics, 23 Advanced Practitioners and 20 Ambulance Care Assistants. 192 staff have been recruited into the East, 111 for the North and 237 for the West.