This week’s leadership message comes from Rod Barnes, Chief Executive of Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust

Hello, I’m Rod.

I know Mel Pickup mentioned the national day of reflection in her brilliant blog last week, but I can’t write this blog today without mentioning the fact that it’s over 12 months since Yorkshire Ambulance Service, YAS, managed and transported the UK’s first ever COVID-19 positive patient in York on 29 January, 2020. The impact of this previously unheard of virus has left us at times bewildered, bereaved but mostly uncertain of what the future held.

Yet, remarkably a year later, we appear to be coming through this latest peak with new, improved ways of working and new routines and ways of living. Some changes are more palatable than others I admit and only time will tell whether our new found views on ‘staycations’, commuting, daily exercise and work-life balance stick; but we’ve shown amazing resilience to the new changes placed upon us. 

It hasn’t been plain sailing. Despite the monumental efforts of professionals, communities and our governments, the impact of the pandemic has brought tragedy to many families. Our YAS family lost five loved and valued members of staff to COVID-19 which has been truly heart-breaking and many of our colleagues have been affected by loss amongst families and friends. The emotional recovery from what we have endured, and continue to face, cannot be underestimated and will take us time to heal from. With one in four people in the UK experiencing a mental health problem every year, it’s vital we do all we can to support our colleagues and families and the communities we serve.

Sadly, we know that COVID -19 has had a more severe impact on those already considered the most vulnerable groups in society, including ethnic minorities, older adults, children, those with disabilities and people living in social or economic deprivation. The social restrictions brought about by COVID-19 have heightened the vulnerability of certain groups to increased risk of disadvantage, harm, exploitation or abuse. Issues that were at the heart of last week’s Adversity, Trauma and Resilience event hosted by the Partnership and West Yorkshire Violence Reduction Unit and brilliantly curated by Emm Irving and Carrie Rae. I was fortunate to make it to several of the sessions and hear from passionate speakers about issues that really get to the heart of what our partnership is about.

Having safe and stable home environments, trusting relationships, financial security and support are all important elements of preventing and tackling adversity and helping children and adults to have better lives and I’m proud that these issues are at the heart of our ambition as a partnership, to improve the health and wellbeing of our communities.  I’ve been humbled by the tremendous efforts of the NHS nationally and regionally to roll out the UK’s COVID vaccine programme, which has seen nearly one million people across West Yorkshire receive their 1st vaccine. With last week’s announcements about the national alert level reducing from 4 to 3, falling numbers of COVID positive patients in hospital and clinically vulnerable staff able to return to work from 1 April, it really feels like we are finally moving forward. I’m loathed to say we will be ‘back to business as usual’ because COVID-19 is already re-shaping some of our ‘new normal’ and allowing us to explore new and exciting ways of working and engaging.

The pace and extent of change to our working practices at YAS has been significant and I couldn’t be prouder of how our staff and volunteers have adapted to the constant and rapidly evolving situation and the enormous courage shown in the continued delivery of care across urgent and emergency settings of care  throughout the pandemic. Our A&E and NHS 111 services have seen unprecedented levels of demand at various times during the pandemic due to the public messages to ‘Stay at Home’ and ‘Call 111’. In response, we quickly mobilised video triage and brought new clinical skills into our 999 and 111 contact centres.  In December, we implemented the ‘111 First’ project, working closely with our West Yorkshire and Harrogate partners, to ensure patients are guided to the best local services to meet their needs, reducing unnecessary attendance at hospital emergency departments and reducing avoidable infection risk for patients who still require hospital care. 

Our Patient Transport Service rapidly adapted our non-emergency vehicles to ensure the safe conveyance of low acuity patients, ensuring the public could still access their outpatient appointments and played a vital role in the rapid discharge of patients from acute trusts, to create capacity in hospitals during periods of peak demand. 

The NHS 2021/22 priorities and operational planning guidance issued last week rightly prioritises working collectively across our systems to address the health inequalities that have been exposed so plainly during the pandemic, to continue to support the health and wellbeing of our staff, to restore access to services and to build on what we’ve learned to transform the way we deliver care.

Addressing large waiting lists for delayed treatments and improving discharge will almost certainly put place even more demands on our Patient Transport Services in the coming year, as will the national ambition to use NHS 111 as the primary access route to urgent care. In the year ahead, we will also be focused on developing future working arrangements in response to the Department of Health and Social Care’s White Paper. Our response to the pandemic over the last year has demonstrated what we can achieve and that working together makes a greater difference to the patients and communities we serve.

With nights becoming lighter, we can also finally begin to spend much needed time with family and friends outdoors. You can feel the renewed sense of hope at home and at work. This was reinforced earlier this week, when we held our much delayed staff recognition STARS awards at YAS, where we celebrated some of the amazing contributions from individuals and teams across the service. 

Last week we also ran our first joint session with the Prince’s Trust to support young people in West Yorkshire to gain experience, skills, training and the confidence to get into work. As social restrictions are eased, we will soon restart our #999aspire programme working with the Violence Reduction Unit, West Yorkshire Police and West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue to give young adults in schools, colleges and community groups life skills including conflict resolution, mental wellbeing, first aid and careers advice. One of the truly inspirational groups we work with is CATCH in Leeds - CATCH stands for ‘Community Action To Create Hope’ and seeks to build skills and confidence of adults and young people in a diverse and challenged area of the city, to reach their full potential and to make Leeds a safer and healthier place. 

So, a time to recover, re-group, to spend more time on the things that make a positive difference in our home and working lives and look ahead at the positive opportunities.

‘Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has’ - Margaret Mead

Have a great bank holiday weekend. Make sure you take some to time to enjoy it.

Rod and all of us at YAS.