creating the ambulance service of tomorrow

The full press release is below:

Press Release - For Immediate Release

14th August 2006

Creating the Ambulance Service of Tomorrow

Developing leaders is the first step towards improved patient care

As part of a drive to become more forward thinking and patient focussed, 65 Accident and Emergency Team Leaders from the North East Ambulance Service (NEAS) have just completed an innovative, highly effective 5-day leadership development programme designed by Righttrack Consultancy, a Worcestershire based training company.

The programme has been designed to support the newly created A&E Team Leader role and is part of an ongoing programme of professional development for the Team Leaders. According to Colin Cessford, Director of Clinical Standards and Quality at the NEAS, "We want to move away from the old-fashioned workplace idea of employing 'supervisors' towards an ap p roach where we employ 'leaders' of staff. Leaders use creative thinking and hence use their own initiative to solve complex problems rather than simply following policies and procedures. This is how we will create the NEAS of tomorrow and ultimately how we will become more patient focussed and improve patient care."

To achieve this change within the NEAS, Colin looked to Righttrack to design an innovative programme that would not only provide the Team Leaders with the necessary leadership skills and knowledge, but would also engage and inspire them to really make a difference back in the workplace.

"The Team Leaders who attended showed such incredible commitment to both the NEAS and their personal development," says John Freshney , lead Righttrack training consultant for the programme. "The NEAS should be extremely proud of the way the Team Leaders approached this new and exciting venture."

Overall the programme has been a tremendous success, "It has exceeded all of our expectations. Our Team Leaders have already improved upon performance in 10 Service Improvement Programme areas ," says Colin. "The training programme is excellent," added Susan Richardson, Training and Development Manager at the NEAS. "It gives the Team Leaders a very good foundation in leadership and problem solving skills. It is the beginning of a long-term management development process within the NEAS."

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