Lifetime Achievement Award for E-zec Volunteer Driver

Volunteer Driver wins Lifetime Achievement award

A Suffolk-based volunteer has been presented with a community award after dedicating years of his life to supporting his local town. 

Glenn Barker, aged 70, from Bury was awarded the prestigious Lifetime Achievement accolade at the Bury Free Press Community Awards recently, after being nominated and recognised for his contribution as a Volunteer Car Service (VCS) driver for E-zec in Suffolk.

Glenn said: “I’m still a little overwhelmed after receiving this award – I can’t believe it. I absolutely love what I do, and have been a VCS driver for E-zec since the inception of the Suffolk/Waveney contract back in 2019. Before this, I was a VCS driver for the East of England Ambulance Service for 10 years.

“About 16 years ago, I suffered a cardiac arrest. After a spell in hospital and eight weeks in rehabilitation, my only means of accessibility was through hospital transport. I was so incredibly grateful for this service, which allowed me to remain a sense of independence. So, I made it my mission to return to full health, and become part of this incredible initiative at E-zec”.

The Lifetime Achievement award recognises those who have, over a lifetime, made significant positive contributions to Bury, striving to make it a better place for those within it. Glenn was nominated due to going above and beyond – he’s driven over 900,000 miles, and has been known to personally contact service users the day before transport is arranged to ease anxieties and boost familiarity.

“The most rewarding part of the job is the people that you meet,” Glenn continued. “In my time, I’ve come across some wonderful individuals, and being able to play just a small part of the journey – in what is typically a daunting or scary time of their life – is an absolute pleasure. For example, I’ve taken young adults who’ve had kidney transplants to post-op care, and have tried to relieve some stress and anxiety for service users attending oncology appointments. 

“I’m incredibly humbled – thank you to those who nominated me. And to anyone considering becoming a VCS driver – do it! It truly is the most rewarding job in the world.”

Darron Burns, Regional Manager at E-zec Suffolk added: “On behalf of the entire E-zec team, we’d like to wish Glenn huge congratulations for this fantastic recognition. We’re incredibly lucky to have a wonderful team of VCS drivers on the ground, supporting our communities and playing an integral role in the business”.

Congratulations and very well done Glenn! We truly appreciate you!

Supporting the UN’s 16 Days of Activism Campaign

16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence 

E-zec is proud to support an international campaign to end gender-based violence. 

16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence is an annual United Nations’ campaign that aims to raise awareness and encourage individuals and organisations across the world to call for the prevention and end of gender-based violence.   

The campaign has also been adopted by UK Says No More – a campaign to raise awareness to end domestic abuse and sexual violence across the UK. E-zec has been a long-standing supporter of UK Says No More, hosting its Online Safe Spaces widget on the homepage of its website.  Online Safe Spaces is a discreet portal that opens in a pop-up window to provide support, advice and helpful contact numbers for those at risk of domestic abuse. It leaves no internet history trace, and provides quick exit options for the person seeking information. 

E-zec’s support for the international campaign 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence will involve posting on the company’s social media accounts to raise awareness of violence against women and girls, domestic abuse and sexual violence.  It will also highlight where support can be found.  

UK Says No More work with Boots UK, Morrisons pharmacies, Superdrug pharmacies, Well Pharmacy, independent pharmacies, HSBC and TSB across the UK to provide Safe Spaces in their consultation rooms for people experiencing Domestic Abuse. If you’d like to find out more you can visit the website: UK Says No More.

This year’s 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence campaign kicks off on 25th November (International Day of No Violence against Women) and runs to 10th December 2022 (International Human Rights Day). 

Information and Support in the UK …

National Support Lines 
For women experiencing domestic violence and abuse 

• England 
Call the National Domestic Abuse Helpline (Freephone, 24/7) 
0808 200 0247 

• Scotland 
Domestic Abuse and Forced Marriage Helpline (Freephone, 24/7) 
0800 027 1234 

• Wales 
Live Fear Free Helpline (Freephone, 24/7) 
0808 801 0800 

• Northern Ireland 
The domestic and sexual abuse helpline (Freephone, 24/7) 
0808 802 1414 

And for men experiencing domestic violence and abuse 
• England, Wales and Scotland 
Call the Men’s Advice line (Freephone, Monday-Friday: 9am-8pm) 
0808 801 0327 

• Northern Ireland 
The Men’s Advisory Project (MAP) offer help and support to any man facing domestic abuse, anywhere in Northern Ireland. 
Call 02890 241929 

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Training with Basegreen: First Steps

Last week saw training provider Basegreen visiting E-zec’s Shrewsbury, Shropshire operations to speak to existing Ambulance Care Assistant (ACA) colleagues about their personal and career aspirations. E-zec is completely committed to supporting its people through government-funded development to help them achieve their goals.

ACAs in Shrewsbury have shown a real interest, with the whole base buzzing with how E-zec is delivering on its promise of further development and training.

Of the visit, Basegreen CEO, Mathew Woodhead said: “It’s fabulous to see so many ACAs taking an interest in developing their skills and ultimately their careers.”

Simon Pill, E-zec’s Head of Learning and Development said: “It feels great to deliver on what we promised, which was development for all, and we are just starting this journey. Over the coming days and weeks we will be visiting our Hereford, Worcester and Redruth bases. Early next year, we will visit each of E-zec’s operational hubs to give all our ACAs the opportunity to grow.”

Basegreen paid a visit to E-zec’s Shrewsbury operations to talk about progression within the company

A Very Special Delivery

ACA Josh delivers baby in car park

A newly recruited Ambulance Care Assistant (ACA) was pushed to new limits with an unusual initiation during his first official week working at E-zec.

Having only been out on the road for a matter of days, ACA Joshua Hender was posed with the stressful challenge of assisting a mother in the very final stages of labour – in the hospital car park.

E-zec may provide specialist non-emergency, bariatric, and high-dependency medical transport to patients but now we can add immediate maternity assistance to the list…

Speaking after the eventful shift Josh said: “I was sat with my ambulance partner, Andy, outside Ipswich Hospital waiting for instructions on our next job. Suddenly, a car pulled up in front of us, with a man frantically running out and shouting for help.

“We jumped out of the cab, and once we realised what was happening, Andy and the dad fled into the building to get maternity assistance. I started talking to the mother in labour, helping her to keep calm, but quickly realised that the baby was coming. Now.

“Within a matter of minutes, the baby was in my arms. I wrapped the newborn in a coat and placed her onto the mother’s chest, until the maternity team came to take over. It certainly was a very exciting first Friday shift, and a day I’ll never forget.”

Prior to working at E-zec, Joshua was a semi-professional goalkeeper for Ipswich Town, and so is no stranger to making fast-paced decisions, and making that crucial save – albeit, never before a baby.

Suffolk-based Supervisor Carl Cheadle said: “This is such an incredible story and portrays just what a valuable role our colleagues play in supporting our communities as a whole. We’re extremely proud of Joshua for his quick thinking and supporting the mother during what must have been an incredibly scary time for all.

“He truly immersed himself into the role and has demonstrated what it means to go above and beyond – a crucial part of being an ACA. And, being an ex-semi-professional footballer, mum and baby were certainly both in very safe hands! Well done to all involved, and huge congratulations to the parents, who have informed us they are all doing well.”

Suffolk-based ACA Josh delivered a baby on his third shift for E-zec

E-zec publishes its Quality Account for 2021/2022

Organisations are required under the Health Act 2009 and subsequent Health and Social Care Act 2012 to produce Quality Accounts if they deliver services under an NHS Standard Contract, have staff numbers over 50 and NHS income greater than £130k per annum.

A Quality Account is an annual published report about the quality of services and improvements offered by NHS healthcare providers.

From Mike Woodall, E-zec’s Chief Operating Officer: 

I am pleased to introduce the annual Quality Account for 2021/22. This document is both forward looking and retrospective. It sets out the work we have done over the past year to improve the quality of our care and keep patients safe and provides information on our priorities for 2022/23.

The start of this financial year saw us in the grip of a second wave of COVID with the effects of the Alpha and then subsequently the Omicron variants impacting heavily on our services and on those of our system partners.

COVID-19 has had a very significant impact on the NHS and NHS providers across the country and we have seen how it has stretched services and people to near breaking point. But E -zec Medical’s staff can be proud of how they responded and continue to keep themselves, our service users, and the community safe.

It is a remarkable achievement for this organisation that in a year of so much change and difficulty, our people have continued to improve the services that we provide and have taken great strides forward in delivering a great people, great place strategy.

Our improvement journey, continues at pace and we end this year very much looking forward to a potential visit from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and the opportunity to demonstrate how far we have come

We have been ensuring that our ‘business as usual’ functions maintained the quality and safety of our services, while striving to provide the best possible response to our patients. Some of our key achievements during 2021/22 have been:

• Our continued focus on staff and service user safety

• Delivery of quality assurance work aligned to our CQC ratings

• Achieving our Right Care strategy goals

• The development of a new quality strategy using feedback from both service users and staff

• Maintenance of staff safety (RIDDOR reports) and we are proud of the extensive work we have done to protect our staff from Covid-19 workplace transition

We continue to receive positive feedback on the improvements that we are making and look forward to what we can achieve in the coming year on behalf of the people who use our services. 

Quality-Account-21-22-PPT-v2-2.pdfDownload

Shropshire’s operations rated ‘Good’ by the CQC

Shrewsbury dispatch centre

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and social care in England. Following an unannounced, comprehensive inspection by the CQC in May, E-zec is delighted to report that the CQC has rated its Shropshire operations as ‘Good’.

During the CQC’s inspection, they spoke to 14 E-zec colleagues, including ambulance care assistants, control room colleagues, supervisors and managers. The inspection team checked eight vehicles, reviewed five patient records and six colleague records, primarily at the company’s Shrewsbury dispatch centre.

The CQC’s inspection covers five key lines of enquiry that they ask of all care services that they inspect. These are: Safe, Effective, Caring, Responsive to People’s Needs and Well Led.

Highlights from the CQC’s inspection include:

• The service had mostly enough staff to care for patients and keep them safe. Staff had training in key skills, understood how to protect patients from abuse, and managed safety well. Staff assessed risks to patients, acted on them and kept good care records. The service managed safety incidents well and learned lessons from them. Staff collected safety information and used it to improve the service.

• Managers monitored the effectiveness of the service and made sure staff were competent. Staff worked well together for the benefit of patients and had access to good information. Key services were available seven days a week.

• Staff treated patients with compassion and kindness, respected their privacy and dignity, took account of their individual needs, and helped them understand their conditions. Staff told us they provided emotional support to patients, families and carers.

• The service planned care to meet the needs of local people, took account of patients’ individual needs, and made it easy for people to give feedback.

• Leaders ran services well using reliable information systems and supported staff to develop their skills. Most staff felt respected, supported and valued. They were focused on the needs of patients receiving care. Staff were clear about their roles and accountabilities. The service engaged well with patients and the community to plan and manage services and all staff were committed to improving services continually.

E-zec’s CEO Craig Smith was keen to align the Shropshire report with recent local quality inspections at E-zec’s operations in Dorset and Ipswich, saying: “As a business being ‘Committed to Care’ and ‘Listening, Learning, Adapting’ are two of our core values and underpin the way we behave and act. Following some developmental feedback from the CQC in last year’s Suffolk inspection, we have had a real focus on our quality strategy. It is really pleasing to see the progress made, which has now been recognised externally by two ICB quality leads and now the CQC. Of course there is always a lot more for us to do and we will continue to ensure quality remains an absolute priority for us with clear action plans to track progress.”

The CQC’s full report can be found here:

https://www.cqc.org.uk/location/1-11654148478

About E-zec Shropshire:

E-zec Shropshire’s contract is to provide 95,000 patient journeys for children and adults each year across Shropshire and Powys. The types of journeys patients undertake includes: renal dialysis, outpatients appointments, discharges, admissions, transfers, oncology, palliative care, paediatric transport, bariatric transport, and GP transfers. In addition to standard patient transport services, E-zec provides a dedicated renal manager to provide enhanced support for dialysis patients across the region, a shuttle service linking the two acute NHS hospitals in Shropshire, plus a support service to facilitate the discharge of long-stay patients and their equipment.

Shrewsbury, Shropshire – E-zec’s flagship operational hub, rated GOOD by the CQC

E-zec’s Environmental Strategy: Updated

None emergeny patient transport ambulance

One of E-zec’s core values is Committed to Care, which extends beyond looking after our patients to encompass our colleagues, our communities and our planet. Therefore, we are delighted to be able to formally announce the next phase of our Sustainable Development Management Plan that commenced in 2015.

Our strategy actively supports NHS plans to reach net zero by 2040, seeks to eliminate activities that cause environment damage and to actively encourage measures to improve the environment we live in. The focus of our strategy for the next 12 months will be on five key areas:

  • Transition to a paperless working environment  through the use of technology
  • Eliminate all water pollutants as a bi-product of ambulance cleaning through the introduction of non-toxic biocides
  • Reduce energy consumption across all of our offices and operational hubs and transition to green energy sources
  • Actively start to eliminate harmful emissions from our fleet of ambulances and wider business travel
  • Support and incentivise our supply chain to encourage and support a similar focus on environmental sustainability

As a business E-zec drives over 12 million miles a year and as a result our strategy has a particular focus on reducing emissions from our fleet. To support our aims, we are delighted to confirm that we will be working in partnership with Trust Ford and the Venari Group to support our fleet replacement strategy. This will see the introduction of EV and Hybrid ambulances this year and will see our entire fleet replaced by 2029.

Recognising that our replacement programme will take time we are also committing to offset all carbon emissions generated from our fleet from August 2022 and are actively looking to harness the latest technology to reduce emission through improved driving standards.

E-zec’s CEO Craig Smith had this to say about its environmental strategy: “I am delighted to be able to announce these updates to our environmental strategy. Being Committed to Care is a core value for our business and this strategy outlines our commitment to the planet. We have a lot of work to do but we now have a clear plan and I am delighted to be able to work with Ford and Venari to start the journey of our fleet replacement strategy.”