The use of a defibrillator on cardiac arrest patients, prior to the arrival of ambulance crews, is vital in improving cardiac arrest survival rates, a report published today by South East Coast Ambulance Service, (SECAmb), shows. The report, which looks at out-of-hospital cardiac arrests attended by SECAmb between April 2022 and March 2023, reveals that if a defibrillator is used prior to its arri
South East Coast Ambulance Service (SECAmb) is urging people use its services wisely and be aware of the demand both its 999 and NHS 111 services will face across the four-day Easter Bank Holiday weekend. SECAmb expects to handle up to 10,000 calls to its 999 service and in excess of 20,000 calls to NHS 111, a service it provides across much of its region (Sussex, Kent and Medway). By planning ahe
As we continue to build and strengthen the leadership of the organisation, we are making a number of changes to our senior leadership team. Executive Director of HR and Organisational Development, Ali Mohammed, will shortly be taking up a secondment elsewhere and we wish him well with this opportunity. We are pleased to share that Sarah Wainwright, currently Deputy Director of People & Workfo
On 31 January, we launched The Star Zone, our new digital Reward & Recognition Platform that allows our people to recognise and thank their colleagues through the use of e-cards. We’ve created a big library of animated e-cards for people to use, including introducing some special ‘limited edition’ ones to mark events like Chinese New Year and Ramadan! The Star Zone also allows leaders to prais
We were pleased to celebrate the role of women across SECAmb by hosting an event to mark International Women’s Day (8 March). The event, held on 5 March, and hosted by our Gender Equality Network, (GEN), provided an opportunity for colleagues to celebrate the achievements on female staff across SECAmb. Women now make up more than 58 per cent of our workforce. A significant increase on just 43 per
South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust, (SECAmb), is pleased to see significant improvements in its results in the yearly national NHS Staff Survey. The 2023 survey, published by NHS England today, (7 March), saw SECAmb record improvements across all nine themes explored by the survey’s questions and improved scores to almost all individual questions. The Trust’s scores have also
Innovative technology enabling ambulance service dispatchers to view footage from the scene of trauma incidents via video live streaming from mobile phones is feasible to implement and evaluate, a new study led by the University of Surrey and funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research, reveals. Such technology, used via 999 callers’ smartphones, could aid emergency medical servi
Patients will soon be able to instantly provide feedback on the care given to them with the introduction of new feedback cards on every South East Coast Ambulance Service (SECAmb) ambulance. The small business cards, which are expected to be on board ambulances in the coming weeks, feature a QR code allowing patients to scan it with a smart device, if they have one. The QR code will then take them
A long-serving control room manager has retired from South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SECAmb) after a career spanning five decades. Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) Manager, Wendy Gill, has been a part of the ambulance service for 36 years having joined Kent Ambulance Service as a part-time call taker in 1988. Wendy was given a fantastic send off by colleagues past and pre
South East Coast Ambulance Service (SECAmb) paramedics delivering the PARAMEDIC-3 Trial have won the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Clinical Research Network Kent, Surrey and Sussex Research Support Award 2023. The awards exist to thank colleagues who do not have a formal role in research activity but have provided essential support to conduct research. This year more than