Key achievements

We were awarded the Employers Network for Equality and Inclusion’s (ENEI) Gold Standard for Talent Inclusion and Diversity Evaluation (TIDE) for a second successive year.

We were one of only 15 gold standard winners out of 171 global entries, from across 26 different sectors. Overall, we scored 95% which placed us as the second highest ranked organisation out of all entries globally.

We are always proud to be involved in events that relay the importance of equality, diversity, and inclusion, and this was showcased when we hosted the National Ambulance LGBT+ Network Conference at Manchester Metropolitan University.

In addition to a number of colleagues getting involved in workshops and breakout sessions, Lisa Ward, Director of People and Executive Champion for the LGBT+ Network, and Deputy CEO Salman Desai were also in attendance. They spoke about the need to call out bad practices and non-inclusive behaviours.

We were awarded the Race Equality Matters (REM) Bronze Trailblazer Status in February for our work in addressing racial inequality in the trust.

Since launching our Race Equality Network in 2021 we have taken strides to tackle race inequality and the REM Trailblazer judges commended a number of changes we have implemented to raise awareness of racial inequality.

This includes our new Reverse Mentoring Programme, additional leadership training sessions to raise awareness of what it means to be an inclusive leader, internal and external events that encourage communication and voicing concerns, as well as amending our style guide to help ensure the correct pronunciation of people’s names.

In November we received a national Helpforce Champions Award after one of our volunteering initiatives was recognised for saving hundreds of hours of ambulance time by getting patients in less serious conditions the right care more quickly.

Since the launch of the Low Acuity project’s pilot in 2022, there has been a noticeable reduction in trained NWAS community first responders (CFRs) responding to less urgent emergency calls with support from a dedicated clinician based in the control centre. The clinician reviews incoming 999 calls that have been categorised as being ‘low acuity’ to identify incidents that may be appropriate for a volunteer to attend.

The initiative supports patients to get the right care more quickly, helping keep ambulances free for immediate life-threatening emergencies.

We successfully launched our ‘Careers with heart’ recruitment campaign in November 2023. The campaign helped raise awareness of the different career opportunities at NWAS that are all connected by one thing – heart.

We wanted to attract people who wanted to help others, make a difference and have pride in their career.

We used social media, local radio and local media outlets to share our campaign messages.

In October we appointed four new workforce wellbeing officers who now play a key role in supporting staff wellbeing and helping enable a positive employee experience.

Each officer works in their respective geographical areas to engage with local operational and corporate teams, and help facilitate health and wellbeing events, deliver wellbeing-focused training, along with providing a range of engagement activities.

Additionally, thanks to the NWAS Charity, staff have benefited from additional indoor and outdoor furniture, and other much-needed enhancements to our ambulance stations and other trust sites, providing better relaxation facilities while in work.

We appointed a new Chaplain for Staff Wellbeing Reverend Karen Jobson. Karen works across NWAS sites providing confidential listening and support in times of change, challenge, and distress. Through her role, she offers confidential pastoral support that is proactive and reactive to people of all faiths and none.

In November we held our first Wellbeing Festival. The event provided a range of bitesize educational and interactive health and wellbeing experiences, plus the opportunity to get a health check done on the day. The NWAS Wellbeing Team worked in collaboration with the NWAS Public Health Team to deliver the event which marked the first in a series of wellbeing festivals, with a number of pop-up events planned across the North West over 2024 into 2025.

We supported internal staff across our Urgent Care Service (UCS) and Patient Transport Service (PTS) to work towards becoming emergency medical technicians, via the Emergency Medical Technician Apprenticeship. For some, this paves the way to becoming a paramedic in the future.

To support staff, we provided online support sessions, 1-2-1 support, information, advice and guidance in preparation for the role and recruitment processes.

This is a rolling programme that aims to successfully develop our talented staff to reach their full potential.

We launched a new continuing professional development (CPD) and Learning Hub. The Hub enables staff to access information about all learning activities and opportunities relevant to their individual roles and to support their aspirations. There is a range of learning materials, courses, interactive content, and information to develop staff’s knowledge and skills.

HART saw many changes over the last 12 months including expanding its leadership team to better support staff. They also held taster days for our Women’s and Race Equality networks to attract more diversity.

Following a robust and challenging recruitment process, HART also received over 100 applications for the HART paramedic role, marking a record-high number of applicants.

Plans for a brand-new state of the art facility for HART Team in Liverpool were signed off and the new site is due to be completed by June 2025. The development will see improved facilities including a gym and specialised training and education facilities.

Throughout the year we continued our commitment to enabling inclusive workplace environments where all our members of staff are supported to reach their full potential.

Following feedback from our staff survey, in December 2023 our Executive Leadership Committee approved a new procedure for requesting and managing reasonable adjustments, which provides guidance for managers and an overview of the process to request reasonable adjustments if a request form is submitted by staff.

Our Disability Network also helped raise awareness of the barriers that people with disabilities face by holding its first reasonable adjustments forum during Disability History Month. The new procedure was discussed at the event, with presentations and engagement from NWAS leaders also.

We are committed to making sure our service is as inclusive as possible.

In October, we joined the Hidden Disabilities Sunflower scheme. The Sunflower aims to raise awareness and assist individuals with hidden disabilities that are not immediately apparent to others.

By wearing it, in the form of a pin badge, wristband or lanyard, individuals signal to others that they may require additional support, understanding, or patience in various situations, and helps ensure those with hidden disabilities receive the assistance and respect they deserve.

NWAS colleagues from across the region were honoured for their career milestones of 20 through to 40 years, along with the Queen’s Medal for service and good conduct. The three regional events were hosted by the respective head of operations and Chief Executive Daren Mochrie, with Chair Peter White and Deputy CEO Salman Desai presenting awards. Lord Lieutenants for each respective area presented the medals.

After dedicating over 25 years as a Patient Transport Service (PTS) volunteer car driver, covering more than 625,000 miles and assisting over 25,000 patients, Colin Tandy’s selfless work was commended at the Make a Difference Awards run by BBC Radio Lancashire.

Our staff networks continued to grow and raise awareness of key initiatives and events throughout the year.

In honour of 2023’s Black History Month theme ‘Saluting our Sisters’, we held our first network collaboration event. The Race Equality Network (REN) and Women’s Network came together to raise awareness of maternal health inequalities faced by people from black and ethnic minority backgrounds.

Key speakers included members of our Board as well as external specialists who shared learning and best practice from their own respective trusts to help us make improvements within our own service.

In November, we were reaccredited as ‘Veteran Aware’ by the national steering group for the NHS Veteran Covenant Healthcare Alliance (VCHA).

The recognition demonstrates that we support the armed forces community as an employer, and ensures that veterans, reservists, and other members of the armed forces community amongst our workforce are looked after.

As part of our commitment to the Armed Forces Covenant, and after working closely with our Armed Forces Network, in February 2024 we also introduced a guaranteed interview scheme for armed forces personnel to help veterans, currently serving reservists and cadet force adult volunteers gain employment within NWAS.

In November, we were reaccredited as ‘Veteran Aware’ by the national steering group for the NHS Veteran Covenant Healthcare Alliance (VCHA).

The recognition demonstrates that we support the armed forces community as an employer, and ensures that veterans, reservists, and other members of the armed forces community amongst our workforce are looked after.

As part of our commitment to the Armed Forces Covenant, and after working closely with our Armed Forces Network, in February 2024 we also introduced a guaranteed interview scheme for armed forces personnel to help veterans, currently serving reservists and cadet force adult volunteers gain employment within NWAS.

Our Patient Engagement Team successfully delivered five engagement events across the region in 2023/24. The events were open to the public, patients, and neighbouring organisations and helped enable communication with our three main service lines through interactive activities, discussions, as well as question and answer sessions. 202 people attended, learnt more about the service and gave their feedback on how we can improve.

A new and improved version of the OneResponse software was developed with external company Dedalus and is now hosted on a system that acts and feels like an app to the user but is hosted on a website. Crucially, this enables system upgrades to take place without the need for system downtime or partner IT resource being required to reinstall the app.

The new OneResponse, launched in August 2023 via trust iPads, has improved patient care due to staff being able to access a more complete and legible patient record and access to real time clinical information. It has also improved medicines management tracking, gives meaningful clinical data and has improved the security of patient data.

Additionally, the EPR Onward Referrals pilot was rolled out in Cumbria and Lancashire in December 2023. The pilot enabled paramedics to refer patients to two Acute Visiting Service (AVS) providers via EPR electronic transfer. This enabled crews to leave the scene, when appropriate, without the need to have a conversation with a GP. Plans to roll this out wider in the trust are in progress.

We were awarded the Race Equality Matters (REM) Bronze Trailblazer Status in February for our work in addressing racial inequality in the trust.

Since launching our Race Equality Network in 2021 we have taken strides to tackle race inequality and the REM Trailblazer judges commended a number of changes we have implemented to raise awareness of racial inequality.

This includes our new Reverse Mentoring Programme, additional leadership training sessions to raise awareness of what it means to be an inclusive leader, internal and external events that encourage communication and voicing concerns, as well as amending our style guide to help ensure the correct pronunciation of people’s names.

After a successful pilot, the trust wide migration of Mobile Data and Vehicle Solutions (MDVS) officially commenced, replacing our previous Thorcom MDT, Garmin sat nav and reverse camera screens.

The move to MDVS was part of a national programme that saw all ambulance services in the country migrate to this system, and has helped improve communications between ambulances and control rooms across the region, consequently helping us improve patient care.

Following a successful pilot in 2021, we officially rolled out body worn video cameras (BWVCs) across the entire trust. The project gives all operational staff the option to help protect themselves from incidents of violence and aggression whilst on duty by wearing a camera. With the safety and welfare of our staff being at the forefront behind the roll-out, the aim is to help staff feel safer whilst on shift, by de-escalating any aggressive situations that may arise when treating patients. The use of the recorded footage also helps with reflection and learning, as well as being used as evidence in prosecutions should the need unfortunately arise.

As part of the NHS Ambulance Radio Programme (ARP), we successfully migrated our Emergency Operations Centres (EOC) to a new radio system called Control Room Solution (CRS). The new system provides critical communications from the EOC to our crews on the road, helping us improve patient care and supporting the resilience of our service.

It was a record-breaking year for our NHS Staff Survey as we received our highest-ever number of responses. The survey was completed by over 3,400 staff across the trust – which is nearly half of our total workforce – and beats last year’s response total by 1200. The feedback from the survey will be used to make improvements for both our staff and patients.

PMO played a crucial role in overseeing 60 projects, many of which enhanced the wellbeing and safety of our staff and patients. They managed a capital budget of £27 million and a revenue budget of £17 million. Additionally, they implemented a Benefits Management Framework, based on industry best practise, and have invested significant time to embed new practises. These are now delivering tangible outcomes for the trust which are reported through trust governance.

As part of our commitment to signing the NHS England Sexual Safety Charter and the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives (AACE) Consensus Statement on reducing misogyny and improving sexual safety, we launched our new sexual safety campaign. Our approach – Stop, Speak, Support – reminds us to pause and look at our own behaviour, speak out to challenge the behaviours of others, and support anyone we know has been affected.

We want to create a safe working environment free from sexual harm. Staff welfare is one of our main priorities and this campaign allows us to make everyone aware of their responsibility to help make NWAS a safe place to work.

As part of our Freedom To Speak Up offer, we have also embedded other speaking up processes to enable our staff to voice concerns about their wellbeing, the care they provide, or cultural issues.

We were awarded the Recruit Lancashire People Award following our Widening Access Team’s continuous work supporting and inspiring individuals and job seekers into employment. Throughout the year, the team was active in the community and promoted employment opportunities via jobs fairs, careers fairs, live chat sessions and online support sessions.

Our Sustainability Team’s plans to improve our green spaces grew from strength to strength as we planted 30 more trees, following the 50 trees that were planted the previous two years. The new trees, that have been planted across our sites, will not only benefit the environment and help contribute to better air quality, but also create better working areas for our staff, further supporting their wellbeing. They will also help continue our commitment to the NHS England and NHS Improvement Green Plan to deliver a new, zero-carbon NHS by 2040.

We successfully rolled out the Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF). The new framework brings significant benefits such as greater engagement with those affected by an event, including patients, families and staff, application of a range of system-based approaches to learning, as well as learning responses and supportive oversight. Additionally, we adopted the Learning from Patient Safety Events (LFPSE) system, a national NHS platform for recording and analysing patient safety events in healthcare. The PSIRF Team was also a finalist in the Digital Clinical Safety Award for increasing patient safety through digital risk management at the HSJ Digital Awards in June 2023.

We successfully rolled out the Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF). The new framework brings significant benefits such as greater engagement with those affected by an event, including patients, families and staff, application of a range of system-based approaches to learning, as well as learning responses and supportive oversight. Additionally, we adopted the Learning from Patient Safety Events (LFPSE) system, a national NHS platform for recording and analysing patient safety events in healthcare. The PSIRF Team was also a finalist in the Digital Clinical Safety Award for increasing patient safety through digital risk management at the HSJ Digital Awards in June 2023.

We held a strategy roadshow to get an understanding of operational colleagues’ awareness, understanding and overall feeling of the trust strategy a year after its launch. We visited up to 25 sites and engaged with 173 people through face-to-face discussions, followed by an online survey.

Our Digital Innovation Team was awarded the ‘Enhancing Workforce Engagement, Productivity, and Wellbeing Through Digital Award’ at the inaugural HSJ Digital Awards in June 2023, recognising their efforts in building a smart, connected ambulance service.

This recognition follows the implementation of various smart solutions across our sites, including smart wallboards, digital key cabinets, digital controlled drug cabinets, and personal issue controlled drug keys. This year, after a successful trial, the team began installing digital key cabinets in ambulance stations, with paramedics receiving their own controlled drugs (CD) keys in preparation for the CD cabinets. These innovations will continue to be rolled out throughout 2024, helping our staff use digital technology to improve safety, wellbeing, and efficiency.

We replaced our paper-based system with a bespoke digital solution named ‘Aspirer.’ This allows our Paramedic Emergency Service (PES) teams to record their shifts electronically, ensuring precise and timely payroll processing each month. Since the rollout, we have also begun evaluating the system and identifying areas for improvement.

We have built a new relationship with Lister Alliance, which will enable us to pilot the smart ambulance concept. We continue our partnerships with the University of Manchester, Lancaster University, the Northern Ambulance Alliance and Association of Ambulance Chief Executives (AACE) digital transformation group. We have been selected to be part of the Clinical Entrepreneurship Programme. This will provide funding to develop our innovations and the opportunity to learn from other NHS organisations.