Scottish Ambulance Service – Page 6 – The NEN

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.

Edinburgh ambulance crew save life of man who had an allergic reaction after eating a Scottish roll

An Edinburgh ambulance crew have been praised for saving the life of a man who had an allergic reaction to wheat after eating a Scottish morning roll while on holiday.

Terry and Elizabeth Hanson, of Blaydon, Tyne and Wear, have passed on their thanks to Scott Atkinson, Paramedic, and Andrew Innes, Technician, both of Edinburgh City Station.

The pair were on holiday and were walking in Newhailes around 2pm when Terry had a reaction to wheat, which quickly turned into anaphylaxis.

Terry, 71, said: “We were visiting friends. I had breakfast, and I foolishly had a Scottish morning roll, even though I knew I had an allergy to wheat flour.

“Everything was okay until I started walking and the times I’ve had anaphylaxis in the past, it’s always been associated with eating wheat flour and then exercising afterwards, so it was just totally the wrong thing to do.”

Elizabeth said: “I noticed he was very pale and just didn’t look right. He kind of staggered to a bridge. After a few minutes, he totally lost consciousness.”

She said a group of cyclists passing by stopped by; one called an ambulance and Elizabeth administered an EpiPen.

She explained: “The ambulance arrived very, very quickly and just in time to save my husband’s life. The two ambulance staff were accompanied by a university student who was observing and helping.”

She said they were “blue lighted” across Edinburgh by Scott and Andrew to the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, adding: “My husband was seen immediately and stabilised. One of the ambulance staff found me in the waiting area and updated me with everything, even though it was extremely busy.

“Nursing staff also took the time to update me in the waiting area too.

“I am in no doubt that his life was saved by the swift actions of the ambulance staff and I would like to pass on our sincerest thanks and gratitude to them – I hope they realise how incredible they all are.

“The staff who attended to him were all very efficient and friendly. I feel he received the absolute best care that he could have possibly received.”

Following the incident on November 13, 2021, Terry was discharged at 3am the following morning.

He has now recovered at home and added: “I just want to say thanks very much to the ambulance crew for saving my life. I’m sure I would not have made it if not for them.”

Scottish Ambulance Service recruits in record numbers

The Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) has continued to increase its staffing and resources at pace this year as part of its Demand and Capacity Programme.

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.

A dedicated recruitment team was implemented to enable SAS to deliver the ambitious recruitment plan this year and to enable the foundations to be built in order to recruit a similar number of staff next year.

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

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

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.

Scottish Ambulance Service Chief Executive Pauline Howie said: “The last 12 months have been the busiest ever in terms of recruitment for the Service and this is great news for the people of Scotland.

“These new staff will compliment our existing staff who have done an incredible job before and throughout the pandemic.”

Cabinet Secretary Humza Yousaf said: “The Scottish Ambulance Service is the heartbeat of our NHS and staff have worked incredibly hard over the last two years to meet the unprecedented pressure.

“This record recruitment is a demonstration of the action we are taking to help our Health Service at its time of critical need. They will be vital in enhancing the service already provided by dedicated staff.

“The Scottish Government is fully committed to ensuring SAS has the resources and skilled staff in place to continue to deliver a high quality emergency health service.”

Boost for Scottish Ambulance Service’s mental health provision

The Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) is boosting its mental health resources, with the recruitment of 21 new mental health staff, and the continuation of the successful Mental Health Triage cars in Dundee, Glasgow and Inverness.

The Service has been provided with £1.6 million by the Scottish Government over the last three years as part of their Mental Health Strategy. The funding has supported mental health care initiatives, including establishing and staffing mental health triage cars, and boosting the care and support offered to individuals and communities.

This investment supports the recruitment of 21 new mental health staff, including thirteen mental health paramedics and a manager, four mental health dispatchers and three clinical effectiveness leads. These leads offer support across a range of work streams, with a focus on education, mental health pathways and connecting with key partners.

The funding is also assisting with the continuation of the Service’s Mental Health Triage cars, which provide specialist care to people who are experiencing mental health challenges and have contacted the Scottish Ambulance Service for help.

These Mental Health Triage cars offer an adaptive and approachable way of responding to people experiencing mental health distress, with a joint response from a mental health practitioner and a paramedic, to meet the patient’s immediate needs. There are three mental health cars available for the east, west and the north, and are based in Dundee, Glasgow and Inverness.

The Service has a further range of support services in place for people calling 999 to report mental health distress. SAS has partnered with NHS 24 and Police Scotland as part of the Enhanced Mental Health Pathway to continue the development of a Mental Health Hub which is hosted within NHS 24. Accessible for patients 24 hours a day, the Hub is staffed by psychological wellbeing practitioners, mental health nurse practitioners and mental health senior charge nurses.

In support of the Distress Brief Intervention (DBI) national roll-out, SAS continues to connect people in distress through this initiative, offering a response to people who have called 999.

The Scottish Ambulance Service’s Regional Director for the East region, Kenny Freeburn, said: “This funding continues to support the expansion of our initiatives to help in how we care for people experiencing mental health distress.

“It’s estimated that at least one in four people a year in the UK will experience mental health challenges, and the number of people contacting the emergency services about mental health concerns is also increasing.

“Our clinicians are often the first responders to have contact with a person experiencing mental health distress. Our ambition across all our initiatives is to connect people to the most appropriate care to meet their needs in as timely a manner as possible.”

Mental Wellbeing Minister Kevin Stewart said: “Mental wellbeing is more important than ever right now and I am pleased to see this initiative being established as part of the Scottish Government’s mental health strategy.

“With these three triage cars and over 20 dedicated roles within this service, it means people in need of mental health support will get it quicker and that can only be a good thing.”

Pictured are (from l to r), Minister Kevin Stewart, Iona Crawford, Susan Simpson paramedic team leader, Kenny Freeburn regional director.

Five Scottish Ambulance Service staff receive awards for acts of bravery

Five Scottish Ambulance Service staff members have been awarded for acts of bravery.

The Brave@Heart Awards celebrate acts of bravery in exceptional circumstances by blue-light services, voluntary rescue organisations and members of the public.

Last year’s winners for the Service were Scott Diamond, Willie Anderson, Caron Robertson, Amanda McClorey, and Neil Spiers. The staff were nominated by their colleagues and demonstrated bravery during their shift or outside their work hours.

Caron (top), originally from Prestwick, and Amanda (above), both of Stranraer Station, were rewarded for helping a patient who injured herself after falling on a rock at a beach. With no mobile signal, the patient’s son went to a nearby farmhouse to call for an ambulance. Caron, Technician, and Amanda, Paramedic, arrived on the scene.

Their award submission said: “They took control of the situation calmly with retrieval of the patient required over a steep cliff face. Both clambered down the cliff and helped get the patient up. The patient was transported by the RNLI to Port Patrick and then by Caron and Amanda to hospital.”

Willie (above), Technician, and Scott, Clinical Training Officer, were rewarded after they attended an explosion after initially getting called out to another incident while working at Glasgow West Station station.

Whilst on scene at the first incident, they were approached by a member of the public stating there had been an explosion in a nearby takeaway shop. They ran in and got the staff out of the takeaway shop, then there was a secondary explosion that started a fire. The pair then forced their way in and got more than 20 people out as the building started to fill with smoke.

The crew contacted ACC and requested the attendance of Police and Fire Service. Their award submission said: “It is clear that Scott and William acted above and beyond the normal call of duty, acted selflessly, to reduce the risks to the public and residents within the building.”

Neil, of Pencaitland, East Lothian, an MPDS Auditor, arrived early ahead of his shift to take some photographs of yachts and soon became aware of a woman shouting for help. She had fallen in to the freezing water and managed to crawl ashore.

Neil, who was a call handler at the time, acted quickly, calling for assistance and gave her his jacket to keep her warm until help arrived.

His award submission said: “Once the ambulance crew arrived, he returned to his shift for the day. During his shift, he received a call from a member of public who had found a male in the water. Neil gave clear CPR instructions to the bystanders until the ambulance crew arrived on this site as well. The patient was transported to hospital.”

Scottish Ambulance Service Chief Executive Pauline Howie said: “The actions of these staff are truly commendable and they each showed extraordinary bravery. All our staff do amazing, life-saving work each day and this is a small sample.

“The staff are all wonderful ambassadors for the Scottish Ambulance Service and fully deserving of their awards.”