What do we do in a day?

After the excitement of the past few weeks it's back to the main day job this weekend.
So as the Operational Officer, Duty Officer for East Dorset, what have I been up to during my shifts?
Friday morning  handover from the night officer a few minor things to be aware of. Vehicle daily inspection to ensure it is road worthy and has all the necessary equipment,  supplies and drugs and then preparation for our division daily conference call at 0800 our.

This call looks at each sectors performance , potential issues for the day including hospital bed states and handover delays. It also looks at staffing and possible influences from the weather or local events. As I had been off for a few days, once the call was over I had the chance to wade through my inbox and deal with any matters arising.

Then it was a trip to the other two stations in our sector and also the two acute hospitals.

I was then tasked to a incident on the beach and there was great patient focused , multi agency working between the ambulance service, police, coastguard and fire and rescue to bring the incident to a positive closure.

The afternoon became busier with some stacked calls and several vehicles at hospital leading to some  handover delays. A call letting me know a member of staff had gone sick and  regular monitoring of handover times and incidents bought the day to close. Handover to the night ops officer and the sector looks in a good position.

Saturday saw me covering the 1100 - 2100 shift lots going on in the patch including premier league football. After checking my vehicle and a trip down to the local acute hospital it was back to Bournemouth Station and  a productive day with an appraisal completed and written up, several minor problems around the patch easily sorted. A DATIX (adverse incident) investigated and closed with feedback to the the crew.Also mobilised to three incidents. Unfortunately I was then unavailable as the vehicle I was using developed a defect. Whilst waiting for the duty fitter to arrive I continued to monitor the hospital handover times and dealt with a couple of other problems by phone.

Handover to the night DO was done with little to pass over other than he was going to have to swap vehicles not the greatest of starts to his shift

As you can see a varied mix of things we do on a day to day basis. No two days are the same and each shifts presents a variety of challenges to deal with.

Back in today 1100 -2100 again so let's see what today brings.

Stay safe 

Exercise "Dolphin"

Bit of a busy week this week. I finished my three nights on Monday morning then met Rich Coleman from Dorset And Wiltshire Fire And Rescue in the afternoon for a final run through and check of things before Exercise Dolphin. Then down to the venue to set up the room.
After all the planning and preparation the big day had arrived. Tuesday morning saw myself and Rich at the port of Poole bright and early, by eight thirty we  had fifteen of the exercise participants already arrived and networking.

Exercise Dolphin was a table top exercise organised by the Poole Harbour Islands Safety Group to evaluate the National Trust's plans for dealing with a significant incident on Brownsea Island and also the emergency services and other agencies response to the incident. The exercise bought together representatives from all of the inhabited islands in the harbour, Poole Harbour Commissioners, local marine contractors, Perenco, Poole Borough Council, Dorset Police , South Western Ambulance Service, Dorset And Wiltshire Fire and Rescue, Dorset Civil Contingencies Unit, Dorset Wildlife Trust, passenger boat operators and representatives from the National Trust's Operational Risk Team. In total we had over thirty participants in the day and the depth of knowledge and experience in the room led to interesting and informed discussions.

The participants were split in to syndicates for the day and presented with the scenario and injects, they were then given tasks and asked to manage the incident using existing plans and using the Joint Emergency Service Interoperability Program principles. The day was well received and met the aim and objectives set during the planning stages. There were lots of learning points and suggestions throughout the day and these have been captured along with debrief documents from all participants. All this information will be correlated and an exercise report produced with suggestions for improvements and action points.

Thank you to everyone involved in the day I felt it was great success. It has been suggested we should have an exercise like this every two or three years.......

Networking before the exercise started.
   Group work and discussion with lots of                                                                                                     information to consider.

  Syndicates hard at work.


Tuesday saw me assisting the Paramedic Science Faculty at Bournemouth University with interviews for prospective students for the degree starting in September. An interesting day and I was impressed with the high calibre of the candidates.

Wednesday and Thursday saw me back at my normal day job covering the Operational Commander role for East Dorset on days. Lots of bits and pieces to deal with to ensure the sector performs including some hospital delays and two significant road traffic collisions.

Next week see me in Exeter on our trusts updated Operational and Tactical commanders courses.

Stay safe.