New life-savers for Waveney

Gillingham resident Emma Thurbon, who initially trained with a similar group at Beccles and has already helped save a patient who suffered a cardiac arrest, will champion the cause.

"The immediate task is to secure funding for dedicated equipment and look for willing volunteers to join the group," she said.

"The areas to be covered by the group will be out to Geldeston, Kirby Cane and Ellingham, as well as Gillingham, and we will begin with equipment generously loaned from the Bungay responders and a defribrillator from the ambulance loan pool."

Click here to view full press release.

Ambulance staff celebrate awards

Between them they have more than 4,000 years of public service in one of the most demanding jobs in the country.

On Tuesday (May 13) evening ambulance staff from across the east of England gathered at Newmarket’s Rowley Mile racecourse to pay tribute to those who have served patients with distinction for at least 20 years.

It was the first awards evening for the East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust (EEAST) since its formation in July 2006 by merging the services covering Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, Essex, Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Suffolk.

Click here to read all about the award winners.

Click here to read about our Community First Responder award winners.

Declaration submitted

The East of England Ambulance Service has submitted its annual declaration to the Healthcare Commission.

Ambulance services are assessed on 24 core standards within these domains, which cover a variety of criteria, as well as the traditional measurements of response times to emergency calls.

Other specific areas also targeted for assessment include pre-hospital thrombolysis, infection control and participation in audits.

Hayden Newton, chief executive of EEAST, said: “We believe that, by the end June, we will have met all of the Healthcare Commission’s core standards for the annual health check.

“This reflects great credit on all our staff, who have worked tremendously hard during a time of tremendous change."

To view the declaration click here

Saving time, saving lives

From April 1 this year, ambulance services nationwide must reach emergency 999 calls even quicker.

The new Call Connect standard is a new way of measuring ambulance response times, and means the clock will start ticking the moment a 999 call is put through to an emergency control centre.

At the moment, ambulance services start the clock only after the patient's location and medical problem are known - which typically takes up to 90 seconds.

However, our key response target of reaching 75% of life-threatening calls within eight minutes will remain the same, only this time it really will mean eight minutes.

The result will be the world's quickest-responding ambulance service.

Click here to download our Call Connect presentation to learn how we aim to tackle this tough new target.

Your ambulance service - the next 5 years

The Trust launched its Strategic Direction for the next five years at its annual general meeting in September.

The document (left) sets out our vision for the period 2007 to 2012. Among other things, it focusses on our intended application for Foundation Trust status, the idea of a single point of access for emergency and urgent care, and our use of knowledge management.

Click here to download the full document. Any comments can be emailed to engage@eastamb.nhs.uk

First Aid advice on the move

Download our potentially life-saving podcasts and make sure you have the latest first aid advice - at the touch of a clickwheel - thanks to our first aid audio centre.

Click here to download on to your iPod or any MP3 player seven small audio files from our audio library.

All the advice provided is up to date and complies with Resuscitation Council guidelines. Everyone hopes that they are never confronted with these situations, but it is far better to be prepared. And the chances are the victim will be somebody close to you.

Want to be a first responder?

We are looking for members of the public to either start or join Community First Responder groups in our region.

To find out more click here.