Public Involvement work by the London Ambulance Service across the capital

At a busy meeting in City Hall on Monday night, Ruth Lewis the Public and Patient Involvement Coordinator, presented a very revealing report about the public outreach work by the LAS across London over the last few months and plans for the next few. I am presenting Ruth's report in full here. The Deputy Mayor of London, Richard Barnes, also spoke about the challenges to London during this year, with both the Olympics and Queens Diamond Jubilee being held here and the challenges for London's emergency services, not least the LAS. But I will blog about that later in the week.

LAS Patients’ Forum Update / Jan 2012

At the end of December 2011:

·         We have 894 Patient & Public Involvement and public education visits/events listed on our 2011 database, of which we attended 708.

·         Of these we did 84 knife crime talks and 134 Basic Life Support/Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation sessions.

·         29 Junior Citizen Schemes – Teaching various safety messages to 10 & 11year olds.

·         21 Learning Disability events.

·         5 Safe Drive Stay Alive – Aimed at 16yrs-18yrs about driving safely and wearing a seatbelt.

·         Certificates were sent to 45 staff that have done over 25 hours of public education work, mainly in their own time. Five members of staff received a gift of a pens set for doing over 100hrs.

Some examples of events from the last 3 months:

·         12^th October - Our public education work was the topic for the Services third an Evening with us event for Foundation Trust members. Around 50 people attended and heard about our work on knife crime and the dangers faced by young drivers. The presentations were delivered by members of our team and two of our community involvement officers.

·         17^th & 18^th October - Jewish Community Fair.  This involved setting up an information stall and showing members of the public around our ambulance.  Feedback included: “The staff engaged with hundreds of parents and children all day long. The LAS team were absolutely wonderful.  Keep up the good work!”

·         19^th October - West Ealing Deaf Group.  Paramedic Richard Webb-Stevens and Programme Manager Grenville Gifford attended West Ealing deaf group and spoke to 13 members. Grenville produced some fantastic slides about our service and our role which Richard signed to the group in BSL for nearly 2 hours. Richard also signed about when to call and how to call via emergencySMS (texting). The members of the group all registered their mobiles with emergencySMS after the presentation.

·         19^th October - Nicholson Court Elderly Persons Talk.  A talk to a group of pensioners about our Service and help that is available to them locally.  From this the attendees requested advice on purchasing a defibrillator and having the relevant training.

·         21^st October – Stonewall recruitment fair.

·         26th October – “Big Do”.  Team Leader Jacqui Ault and Emergency Medical Technician Yvonne Chambers attended The BIG Do, an event in Hackney for people with Learning Disabilities by people with Learning Disabilities.

Some of the main themes for the day were home safety, health, employment, recreation and leisure. There was a key note address from the council, as well as other presentations and workshops, plus lots of information on services in Hackney. A nurse was doing health checks and there was advice on Individual Budgets. Last but not least, the highlight was a live show at the end by 'Access All Areas'.

Yvonne said “This was a really good day for both the visiting public and us. There were about 200 visitors, most of whom had either learning or physical disabilities. Information was given to them from a number of agencies about the help available to them, how to keep themselves safe and how to access information which would be useful to them.”

“We provided information regarding appropriate care pathways which they can access and also gave out simplified information sheets telling what to do in case of an emergency and when to call 999.”

·         17^th November – Queen Elizabeth Boys School visit.  A talk to a group of year 12 students undertaking an Engineering Education Scheme project, relating to the health and safety of workers on building sites. As part of their project, they felt it would be good to find out how the Ambulance Service treats workers who have fallen ill or have been seriously injured.

·         21^st November – Barnet Epilepsy Action group talk.  A talk about the Service. Feedback given included: “Many thanks for a wonderful talk to our group on Monday evening. It really covered a wide range of relevant information - both theoretical and practical - and was geared at precisely the right level for the group. I have talked to many people in the group since the talk and they all agree that it was an excellent talk. Many thanks for all the work you did for the talk and the wonderful presentation.”

·         7^th December – Drink Drive Campaign at the Civic Centre in Bromley.  A talk to 50-60 attendees to raise awareness of responsible drinking over the Christmas period.

·         12^th December – Prison Me No Way at Brampton Manor School in Newham. A 40-50 minute session, teaching 180 15yr olds what to do in an emergency and how to put someone in the recovery position.

Initiatives for the coming year:

·         Islington/Camden Community Event (March/April) date to be confirmed.  A chance for local communities to find out more about the Service and engage with our staff. Previously we have done health checks and hope to do this again.

·         John Wright is now the Public Education Officer who focuses on knife crime. He would like to expand his work regarding the consequences of knife crime in the following areas.

1.       Hoping to expand the anti-knife crime workshops across London into more Pupil Referral Units, Schools and Colleges.

2.       In partnership with Westminster Youth Services, we would like to deliver a weapons workshop into primary schools.

3.       Would like to become more involved with vulnerable youth groups, such as ‘young people leaving care’.

4.       Work more closely with our Safeguarding colleagues to monitor whether young people involved in youth violence are being highlighted as vulnerable.