THE ambulance service for Nottinghamshire has been declared safe.
East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS) was called to crisis talks last year over concerns about patient safety and response times and was ordered to produce an action plan for improvement.
Now, after six months of EMAS hitting response time targets on average, the NHS Trust Development Authority is happy that sufficient progress has been made.
After revealing the news to the Post, the service's chief executive, Sue Noyes, outlined her vision for the future – including a new management structure, £3m investment in new ambulances and plans to recruit more volunteers.
She said: "The TDA have said they are happy to revert to normal monthly monitoring. It's a positive feeling for the organisation."
Recent figures highlighted by the Post showed EMAS had hit targets for responding to emergency calls for the first two quarters of this year.
In order to keep up its performance, the service is planning to:
Invest £3m in around 40 ambulances and first-response vehicles.
Potentially increase community first-responders, or volunteer paramedics, from 13 teams to 19 teams across the county.
Install a new senior leadership structure, with four board positions filled and three more to be recruited.
Introduce a pilot scheme to teach vital resuscitation skills in Notts schools.
Kev Charles, a paramedic based at King's Mill Hospital, Sutton-in-Ashfield, who has worked for the service for 35 years, said: "There has been a difference. Part of my role within the service is dealing with staff welfare and that takes me around a lot of the stations talking to staff.
"It's still recognised we have a long way to go and we've become a very busy organisation. But there are strong signs of green shoots of growth as regards to staff morale and wellbeing."
He added: "I've seen the effects of the demand on the service and the impact it can have on staff – it can be crippling."
Suzie Matthews is a paramedic based at Wilford ambulance station and has worked for EMAS for nine years. She said: "It has been tough and it still is tough some days. I think we are getting there and things are starting to filter down to the front line. Sue Noyes has been a huge breath of fresh air and her willingness to change things for the better is different.
"She's very keen on staff welfare. On the front line we tend to be the last people to feel any effects of change.
"We've had eleven-and-a-half hours without meal breaks and you can't keep a smile on your face for that time.
"Just to feel that someone is fighting your corner for you is reassuring.
"It's very encouraging that we hit our stats in the first quarter of this [financial] year."
While the service is focusing on improving outcomes it must also make annual savings of around £6m from its budget of £148m due to Government cuts.
An NHS Trust Development Authority spokesman said: "The trust [EMAS] has delivered significant improvements over the last year and we will continue to support them as they progress their organisation-wide improvement programme to deliver and sustain better patient care.
"We have been helping the trust with substantive recruitment to strengthen the board and we will continue to meet regularly with the leadership team to review and monitor the trust's progress with the usual level of performance management and oversight, to ensure response times continue to improve."
