South East Coast Ambulance Service

“SECAmb had planned for 2370.1 WTE by 31 March 2023.”

“They have looked at two issues: 1. Our process for establishing the address to which to send an ambulance It has been identified that whilst there was in place clear instruction to 999 call handlers that the caller must give the address rather than the handler suggesting it, this instruction had not been replicated in the 111 system. This is being remedied.”

“Operational Bulletin has been written to update and improve our process when crew on scene are not able to locate the patient. I attach a copy. It will be noted that the process involves the escalation of the incident to a team leader who will listen again to the original call to verify the address, search our records for any previous calls from the same telephone number and identify any sources of further information such as next of kin or a careline. If the team leader can locate a family member or”

“Call handlers using NHS Pathways are always trained to speak directly with the patient when it is a 3° party call, this ensures that the questions being asked are answered as accurately as possible to ensure both a safe outcome and that questions are not mis-interpreted through a 3 party.”

“We are aiming to recruit an additional 300 ambulance crew members, so we will have more resources that we can call upon for times of maximum demand.”

“We are currently working with our commissioners in a jointly commissioned demand and capacity review, intended to better align our resource requirements to the demands on our service, particularly in the light of the newly introduced Ambulance Response Programme standards.”