Tuesday 9th September 2014 – 12.55pm – Murray MacGregor.
“A strong platform to move forward from.” That will be the summary of 2013-14 that Trust Chief Executive Anthony Marsh will give when he addresses the Trust’s Annual General Meeting of the Council of Governors.
West Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust will be holding the AGM and Annual Members’ meeting from 6.00pm on Wednesday 17th September 2014, in the Conference Room, West Midlands Fire Service Headquarters, 99 Vauxhall Road, Birmingham B7 4HW.
Mr. Marsh said: “When we look back at 2013-14, there is much to be proud of:
- We got to more of the most critical patients (Red 1) within eight minutes
- The number of patients who we were able resuscitate increased markedly which led to more patients surviving
- The number of complaints we received was down sharply while the number of compliments rose
- We continued to have one of the newest fleets of vehicles in the country with no vehicle over 5 years old
- The number of new staff continued to increase with our plans to reach a 70% paramedic skill mix very much on target
- We ‘stepped in’ to run the bulk of the NHS111 service in the West Midlands in November. Our input enabled us to stabilise the service after a very difficult first few months
- We completed the rollout of the Make Ready Hubs which means vehicles are refuelled, cleaned and restocked for use by staff when they arrive for duty
“However, the year was not without its challenges. We saw another increase in demand which meant we were busier than ever before. We narrowly missed our Red 2 performance target (by an average of 12 seconds per call) for the first time in six years. This was particularly disappointing given how hard our staff worked during the year.
“The pressures that our staff now work under is greater than at any previous time I have known. To their immense credit, they continue to operate to the highest standards and give everything in order to improve the quality of care for patients. I would therefore like to take this opportunity to record my gratitude to them all as well as the hundreds of volunteers who help us every single day of the year.
“Looking ahead, the groundwork we laid in 2013-14 is paying dividends in 2014-15. We are exceeding all of our performance standards and one of the top performing Trusts in the country this year. We are running a very successful recruitment process to increase our frontline staff still further and we are maintaining the current high standards of clinical care that benefit people in the region when they need us.”
WMAS Chairman, Sir Graham Meldrum, added: “The high quality clinical care that is given to our patients on a daily basis remains exceptional and I wish to thank all of our staff and volunteers for their dedication and hard work.
“I would also pay tribute to the role that our Council of Governors has played as we take forward our innovative programme of developing the Trust and capturing feedback from patients about their experiences of using our services. This information is used to inform our planning priorities for the coming year.”
All members of the Trust are welcome to attend the AGM, as well as stakeholders and any interested members of the public. The meeting will include a presentation of the Trust’s activities over the past year and present the Trust’s Annual Report 2013-14, including Quality Accounts and financial statements which will be available on the Trust’s website following the meeting.
The meeting is open to the public. Anyone wishing to attend should email: kay.cullen@wmas.nhs.uk to reserve a seat as space at the venue is limited.