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 

Liasion working

This weekend sees me on nights covering the ops officer shifts for East Dorset. Cold weather has hit the south coast with low temperatures both during the day and overnight. We have even had a flurry of the white stuff and guess what ... so far the world has not come to a grinding halt.

As you will have seen from last weeks blog my daughter had her first job interview earlier this week. I am please to say she was successful and will be starting work in July as a diagnostic radiographer once she has completed her university course and becomes HCPC registered.

As any one who has seen the news , read a newspaper or been exposed to social media the NHS is making headlines for all the wrong reasons. I think it is important to acknowledge the hard work and dedication shown by staff at every level and in every directorate across the whole of the NHS. This continued hard work ensures that patients continue to receive high levels of care despite  the huge pressures faced on a daily basis. There is  always talk of winter pressures and it is being reported that demand on NHS services this winter is the highest it has ever been, however this follows a sustained period of pressure and high bed occupancy over the previous year.

From my perspective as a operations officer dealing with handover delays, as a team in East Dorset this has been something we have to deal with throughout the year to a varying degree. Close liaison with our two local acute hospitals, new ways working and regular meetings all mean that we work together to reduce delays and improve patient care.

One night down two more to go off to bed now.

Stay safe.