Week away

Just a quick blog this week due to a change of plans I was due to visit friends but due to a last minute hitch they have fallen through.  I have treated nyself to another week in Llanberis Snowdonia.
The weather looks good for the week so I have a few walks planned.

Will post some pics in next week's blog
Stay safe

Cyber attack

Writing this brief blog on my phone as the NHS is currently experiencing severe IT problems due to an international cyber attack.
I don't pretend to understand some of the geek speak from the IT whizzes but they need to put a patch in place to prevent systems being infected. The problem seems to lie with systems running Windows and that includes all sorts of things.
Whilst this is being sorted frontline staff continue to deal with patients and it's business as usual even if that means pen and paper in some areas.

Stay safe

Events

Already in to May where is the year going?
Easter is a memory, as is the May Day however looking forward more and more local and national events start to populate the calendar many of them being held in the SWAST area.

Locally events start to take place on Poole Quay, the regular Tuesday bike nights have already started and the Poole Boat Show is fast approaching. Running jointly is the European Maritime Festival and conference. I attended table top exercises for both these events this week. These were to look at how the event organiser and staff would cope with a variety of scenarios from bad weather to lost children. Predicted numbers for the joint events are around forty five thousand over the three days. This will be a large influx of visitors to the town and can only be of benefit to the local economy.

This weekend sees me on lates and night on Monday and Tuesday covering our operational commander or duty officer role. The mixed weather can bring a variety of incidents alongside the normal day to day management of the sector. Whilst I have been on leave the team have dealt with a number of significant and high profile incidents.

As the operational commander we can still be tasked to incidents as an initial response and we still attend the same development days and shifts with the learning development officer as our teams do. This ensures we deliver a high standard of care to our patients. In addition to this we receive additional training as operational commanders and our competency is assessed in this role again to ensure we are able to deliver a high level of care through our overall command and control of an incident. High quality patient care does not just stop with the hands on clinical bits!

Stay safe and have a good week.

Week away

Hi All
I have just come back from a great week away in Snowdonia, that is why there was no blog last week. Despite the poor weather and very cold conditions manged two 3000 ft summits. Add in a day out on the ffestiniog Railway and two evenings of climbing at the fabulous Beacon centre and you can tell why it was a great week.

Considering that the average daytime temperature in Llanberis was 5 degrees and with snow visible on the summits all around some very poorly equipped people were heading in to the mountains. Even at the lower levels the weather was very changeable with driving rain, low cloud or mist and strong winds one minute and brilliant sunshine at others. The strong winds also added to the windchill with the temperature on the summits feeling like minus 12.

I have another few days off until back to work on Thursday and hopefully can get out for a couple of local coastal walks.

Love the mountains, so I will leave you a few pictures until next week when normal service will be resumed.

Stay safe.

Four day weekend and it is sunny

As I start to write this weeks blog it is Good Friday, I have some family time before starting the first of three nights over the weekend. Like many other shift workers in the emergency services, medical profession and many other occupations, night, weekend and bank holiday working is accepted as a normal occurrence. This is in addition to the many volunteers who give up their time to support their local communities and worthwhile causes.

However for many people this is a long weekend with both the Friday and Monday off. Many will be dragging out the barbecue, others starting DIY projects or just off doing whatever activity they enjoy to relax. The sun is out, so what could go wrong? Just a few easy to remember tips :

Don't light barbecues with petrol.
Be careful if using steps or ladders for DIY.
Take care on the roads and look out for each other.
Only bathe at beaches with lifeguards.
Stay away from cliff edges if visiting the coast.
Don't drink and drive.
Don't text and drive.

Just a few simple tips to help keep you safe and hopefully avoid you meeting me or my colleagues. This list is by no means exhaustive and could run to several pages just ask any of the emergency services.

The weather forecast looks to be reasonable for the next few days so this means the local area will be busy with both residents and visitors. This always adds to our call volume, so please only call 999 in a genuine emergency.





Why 999?

The 999 number was introduced in 1937 so is 80 years old this year. The number was chosen as the 9 digit was easiest to locate in the dark on a rotary dial telephone and also to avoid miscalls if other numbers were used.

What ever you are up to over the next few days enjoy and stay safe.

Demand

Back on nights this weekend and Saturday night was busy across the patch with road traffic collisions and the more normal incidents.
The sunny weather has bought people out and also the start of the school holidays has seen more visitors around. This increase in the "population" adds to the workload of the ambulance service, hospitals and out of hours service. To cope with this particularly over the Easter period  we look at previous data for call volumes and demand this is mapped out and extra resources are put in place at peak times and key locations.
I also attended a planning meeting for a major incident exercise at a local venue. It was a really productive meeting and lots of good ideas for the scenario. More details on this as it develops.

I talked about the changes to the way newly qualified paramedics will be working, along side this change is the trust rota review. The trust have employed a company to look at our demand and match our resourcing to it. This change has to be delivered within the current financial envelope so  will involve changes to rotas. Since the beginning all three stations in our sector have been looking at the options for rotas and thanks to the hard work of the staff representatives staff are almost ready to vote on which rotas they are in favour of.

Well off to bed now , hopefully up in time to enjoy some of this lovely weather.

Enjoy what ever you are doing and stay safe

Changing times

As the year rolls on changes are a foot. Paramedics nationally have moved in to pay band six with all that entails. All paramedics in band six are going to be expected to act as mentors and carry out station duties, many of which have been carried out locally by Lead Paramedics.

One of the biggest changes will be for our graduate paramedics who will now be classed as newly qualified Paramedics and will be in band five for 24 months. This will build on the current preceptorship period that our new graduates already undergo. During this period they will receive additional support, be expected to complete a portfolio to prove their competencies and also have certain of their clinical decisions for high risk patients, who they wish to discharge at home verified by a senior clinician. Also as part of the changes our current Advance Technicians will formally take rota positions as  lead clinicians.

All of the above are national initiatives and guidance to ensure Paramedics are recognised for the high degree of clinical skills and expertise in the pre- hospital and unplanned care environment. As the Paramedic role continue to develop the vital role we play will continue to be recognised. Another operations officer and myself were talking this week and when we both joined the Paramedic role was restricted to the ambulance service with very few opportunities out side of the service. Now days Paramedics are in high demand across the whole of the health care environment and we are seen as having transferable skills.

This week will see three of my colleagues attending Operational and  Tactical command training in Exeter further developing their skills and competency.

Today is April first, the clocks have gone forward giving lighter evenings and the sun is shining. All of this combined means lots of people out and about. Around the harbour there is a frenzy of activity getting boats ready for the summer season. This time of year also sees more motorcycles out and about. Many riders may not have ridden over the winter months and may be a little rusty. With this in mind guys take your time and maybe even think about some additional training, there are lots of options out there IAM, ROSPA, Bikesafe all offer training and ride outs. Go on your never to old to learn.

Stay safe