She met with Sir Graham Meldrum, Chairman of the Trust, Daren Fradgley, Regional Head of the EOC, Chris Kowalik, Press Office and toured the call centre and met Bransford staff on duty. SHe was joined by Cllr Paul Tuthill, Malvern Hills District Council representative on Worcestershire's Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee.
She learned that over 2008, staff attrition at Bransford from 25.5 employees to 19 meant that a decision had to be taken to move the call centre earlier than planned in advance of the seasonal peak in calls.
Of the 19 remaining employees, only 12 moved to the Brierley Hill site, so a lot of local knowledge was lost in the move.
There are two other main factors for the recent failure of the trust to meet its key targets of providing a response within 8 minutes to 75% of Category A and within 19 minutes for 95% of Category A calls. These are the sudden very large surge in category A calls because of colder weather and the slow turnaround of ambulances at Worcestershire Royal Hospital. Targets are thus being missed by more in Worcestershire than in the region as a whole. More ambulances have come into Worcestershire from Birmingham and the Black Country that the other way, meaning that this does not seem to have been a factor in the recent difficulties.
Harriett Baldwin said, "I appreciate the openness of the Trust in providing me with the information I asked for. I am pleased to see that the overall number of Category A calls that have been answered in 8 minutes has increased. However, there are still major problems which have stopped the Trust achieving its targets. I have asked for some additional information about the A calls that are not being answered in 19 minutes and I have asked for an update of the Bransford property strategy.
We will continue to scrutinise performance. We need to see the Trust reach its targets. The new CAD dispatch system will be implemented this summer. Staff levels need to be addressed for these winter peaks. I am also planning to go out on a Worcestershire ambulance shift from the base at Malvern or Pershore to see for myself how ambulances are deployed in the local area."
DOCUMENTS
Category A 19 minutes target Worcs Dec 07 vs 08
Category A 19 minutes target Worcestershire Dec 07 vs 08 part2
Worcestershire Category A 8 minute target Dec 07 vs Dec 08
Photo: Harriett visits Brierley Hill Ambulance Call Centre.