Secretary's Corner
December 2008
I’m sure it will come as little surprise to anyone that this Months focus is on Dynamic Deployment (DD). Firstly I think that it’s important to make the point most strongly that DD was not the idea of the staffside, nor was it the idea of our colleagues working in the HEOCs. It is understandable that when frustrations are running high, that things can boil over and the person in the crewroom or at the other end of the telephone can become the target of those frustrations, but it is not acceptable. Staffside representatives and those working in HEOC have the same employment rights under Dignity at Work as everyone else, they are all caught up in this mess together and I’m sure that some support as opposed to the constant diatribe of criticism and abuse would be much appreciated by all.
DD was the brainchild of the senior management team; this came about as a result of the need to meet the Governments Call Connect (CC) targets and as a directive from the Commissioners to increase the use of DD in line with every other ambulance service around the country. Once we became aware of their plans we immediately raised our concerns and disapproval to this initiative, not least around areas of Health and safety, staff welfare, staff morale, the environmental impact and many more. Although there was some sympathy as to what we were saying, it was made very clear to us that CC was here to stay and as a consequence so was DD and that the intention would be to implement DD with or without our approval. At this point we could have simply disagreed and walked from the table, this would have put our members in a very vulnerable position as I’m fairly sure that the plan to be implemented would have been to deploy any resource, to any location, for any length of time 24/7. So in the best interests of our members we, somewhat reluctantly, took the decision to work on a draft SOG which put in place some protection to staff around locations, facilities, hours of use, lengths of times etc. We also made it very clear that we expected the draft document to form part of a full ongoing consultation with staff as to its use and effectiveness. Therefore, prior to its launch we sent out information, the draft document and a Q&A sheet via the Branch Newsletter, both the Branch and Trust Websites, Members forum, your shout, Focus East, extra Unison bulletins, an all points email, station posters, a dedicated DD email address and a widely publicised Branch meeting for all reps to attend. This was to give the opportunity for staff and reps to have early sight of the proposal and to feedback comments, as a result of some of that feedback we successfully managed to negotiate some changes to the document before it became “live”.
I cannot emphasise strongly enough at this point that we have not signed up to the continued use of roadside standbys.
Under the pilot, by the end of March any resource whether they be singletons in cars or crews in DMAs should not be expected to sit in vehicles on the roadside, lay-bys, roundabouts, flyovers or any location that is devoid of facilities. Whilst looking to determine where a Dynamic Activation Point should be established, it may be necessary, during the pilot scheme, to position vehicles at sites that do not comply fully with all of the requirements. In these circumstances, especially where there are no facilitates, sites should only be used when safe to do so and the aim will be for local staff and Managers to find locations that comply with the facilities as outlined in the SOG at the earliest opportunity.
Resources should not be assigned to areas that compromise staff safety, or where they are unable to use mobile phones or keep engines running to keep warm. If staff are being asked to go to locations such as these, unless they have good reason to believe that their safety is at risk, they should attend for the 45 minute period and then immediately bring to the attention of their local manager on call.
I would also like to emphasise that this is an ongoing consultation and constructive comment and feedback is encouraged and welcome by using the dedicated email address deployment@eastamb.nhs.uk . I would also urge all staff and reps to take this opportunity to get involved with local managers to have a genuine say as to what happens locally, rather than allowing things to happen as dictated by “them up there”.
I would also like to reassure staff that myself and other senior branch officers will be looking at data on a weekly basis to consider the effectiveness (or not) of DD and we will be meeting with management on a regular basis to negotiate possible changes to the SOG in light of staff feedback and experiences.
These are very difficult times for all of us and this will most certainly not be the last highly contentious issue that we have to face in today’s ambulance world, but we are always striving hard to do the right thing in the best interests of our members and the staff in general, your support in helping us achieve that is vital.
On behalf of the Branch I hope all of you and your families have a good Christmas and a healthy New Year. 
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