About the Trust
East Midlands Ambulance Service employs over 3,200 staff at more than 70 locations. The Trust (EMAS) provides emergency 999, urgent care and patient transport services for the 4.8 million people within Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Rutland, Lincolnshire (including North and North East Lincolnshire), Northamptonshire and Nottinghamshire.
Background
Inappropriate calls to the Service cost both time and money. Improved communication and proactive liaison with the local community were identified as key areas that would help to break down barriers and provide effective and sustainable solutions to tackling these problems. Working in partnership with trade union colleagues, a Community Engagement Officer was recruited and a network of partners was established to work towards:
- Promoting equality through the services provided by the trust
- Developing effective partnerships with local agencies
- Facilitating community contribution and participation in discussions around the planning and delivery of trust services
- Improving community awareness of the role of the Ambulance Service, providing guidance on the appropriate access to care and avoiding un-necessary emergency calls and admissions to hospital
- Promoting better health within the local populations
- Promoting trust employment opportunities in the local communities.
Project delivery
A Trust Community Engagement Working Group was established to inform the content and direction of the five-year Community Engagement Strategy.
In September 2010, the Trust Board approved the EMAS Community Engagement Strategy (CES) for 2010-2015. The CES details the Trust’s duty to improve public understanding of our services to facilitate better health and healthier outcomes. The CES includes a number of strategic aims that need to be achieved by every Division to evidence the overall achievement of each of the strategic aims.
A community engagement event forms part of the Divisional implementation of the CES and once Northamptonshire Division’s event has taken place (13 October 2011), an event will have taken place in each division with the objective of becoming an annual event, taking a ‘You Said, We Did’ approach. The aim is to outreach to the local community to engage people that may not have been involved with EMAS before. We have also worked with local partners and NHS organisations in delivering these events. Nottinghamshire Division’s Community In Unity event produced a newsletter (November 2010) and we held an open day in September 2011. The engagement events also help to deliver the main theme that has emerged from ‘Ideas at EMAS’ (staff suggestion scheme) which is educating the public.
We undertook a status audit and gap analysis to capture what engagement activities were already taking place in each division and what was missing. This resulted in the development of an ‘Engagement Tracker’ system allowing local divisional teams to record activities, comments and ideas on a daily basis. This is now available online for each division and is monitored and supported by the Community Relations Team who use it to identify best practice which we share throughout the organisation.
We developed a range of Partnership Agreements with local community groups. Each group has clear roles and responsibilities which demonstrate the equality of all partners in the relationships. The Model Partnership Agreements and a basic toolkit are available as a shared resource for others considering adopting a similar project.
Project outputs
Over the longer term, the community engagement work delivered as a result of the Community Engagement Strategy implementation will support reduction in the number and frequency of inappropriate calls to the Service. This also includes improving our workforce profile by informing under-represented groups about career opportunities and pathways. By working in partnership with trade union colleagues the project benefited from a shared ownership, allowing the trust to deliver service improvements and changes to working practices.
Following expressing a wish to be involved and work with EMAS, Membership Engagement Groups (MEGs) for public members to work with their local division and a Patient Safety Forum for public members have been set-up.
Taking the project forward
The Community Engagement Strategy (CES) continues to enhance progress of the work of the EMAS Community Relations Team and helps to embed the engagement agenda across the organisation. The process is monitored by the EMAS Diversity and Inclusion Group and reviewed by the Trust Board. A quarterly report goes to Trust Board. The first annual review of the CES is taking place in November 2011 and external partners will be asked for feedback.
Top tips
- Map what already exists. Get evidence on what has worked well and roll out wider.
- Collaborate with other NHS partners to promote one NHS message when appropriate, e.g. NHS Constitution, E&D etc.
- Increase opportunities for engagement by using a variety of methods – consider different target audiences.
- Keep communication active to prevent losing valuable engagement.
Further information and contact information:
David Farrelly
Director of Workforce & Strategy
David.Farrelly@emas.nhs.uk
07793 725 073
Kay Smith
Community Engagement Officer
Kay.Smith@emas.nhs.uk
07867 537 342
Annie Berry
Trade Union Representative
Anne.Berry@emas.nhs.uk
07795 235 905