The hidden heroes of the NHS – The role of Ambulance Trusts in keeping patients and systems moving

What role do Ambulance Trusts play in the success of the wider NHS? How might urgent and community care evolve as we head to integration as part of a joined-up system? How will an integrated ambulance service support system redesign to keep people out of hospital, and provide more proactive care to those who need it most?

Helen Ray (Chief Executive of North East Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust) joined  Tom Clarke (Director, Mtech Access) to explore these questions and more in our live webinar on Friday 25^th June.

In our June #WhispersWordsofWisdom webinar, Tom Clarke was joined by Helen Ray to discuss the role Ambulance Trusts play in delivering care. This role far exceeds attending 999 calls. We explored the important role Ambulance Trusts play in keeping people out of hospital and in instigating new models of care. They are the first point of contact for many clinical events, both on the ground and through their role in NHS 111.

As such, Ambulance Trusts understand first-hand the real drivers for accessing health services. Helen Ray, as Chief Executive of North East Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust is ideally placed to open a window to their world and explore what a more integrated future may mean for emergency care and the wider health system.

Helen Ray joined North East Ambulance Service in 2019, following 36 years’ experience in various roles across the NHS. Helen was previously Chief Operating Officer at Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, where she oversaw urgent and emergency care, medicine, child health, and community services with Board level responsibility and emergency planning and preparedness. She has also previously been Joint Managing Executive Director (operations) for North Cumbria acute and community services; Deputy Chief Executive for North Cumbria University Hospitals; and Chief Operating Officer for South Tyneside NHS Foundation Trust. She trained as a nurse and has held a professional registration for 30 years.

We were delighted to welcome Helen to the Whispers’ Words of Wisdom webinar series.

This webinar forms part of our monthly Whispers’ Words of Wisdom series, in which we have in-depth, comprehensive conversations with senior colleagues from the NHS. We explore what their immediate priorities are, what they see as the greatest challenges currently faced by the NHS, and how the NHS might respond to these challenges.

Our previous webinars are available on demand:

• May 2021: ‘Population to Person – how will the voice of the individual drive health & care development?’ with guest speaker Steph Edusei (Chief Executive of St Oswald’s Hospice).
• April 2021: ‘Know your Place – where will power really sit in the new NHS?’ with guest speaker Dr Steven Michael OBE (Chair of East Cheshire Partnership).
• March 2021: ‘Pharmacy, Medicines, and Specialised Commissioning in the new NHS’ with guest speaker Professor Inderjit Singh (Chief Pharmacist at University Hospitals Birmingham).
• February 2021: ‘The White Paper and integrated care in the NHS: What it really means in practice for clinicians, patients and us’ with guest speaker Dr John Ribchester (GP and Clinical Director at Whitstable Primary Care Network)
• January 2021: ‘Heads at heart of the NHS: How mental health is central to everything in the new NHS’ with guest speaker Brent Kilmurray (Chief Executive of Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust)
• December 2020: ‘Pharmacy and Medicines in the Integrated Care Systems (ICS) of the new NHS’ with guest speaker Laura Angus (Interim Lead Pharmacist, Humber Coast and Vale ICS)
• November 2020: ‘Is prevention better than the cure? How can the NHS and public health work closer to improve population health?’ with guest speaker Dr Peter Brambleby (Independent Public Health Consultant)
• October 2020: ‘Understanding the tipping point: when elective becomes selective in NHS surgery’ with guest speaker Simon Parsons (Divisional Director of Surgery at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust)
• September 2020: ‘Leading within an evolving, integrating system: Insights from an NHS leader’ with guest speaker: Deborah Lee (CEO of Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Trust)
• August 2020: ‘ICS: Separating Fact from Myth: Insights from a System Leader’ with guest speaker: Dr Claire Fuller (Senior Responsible Officer at Surrey Heartlands Health and Care Partnership)
• July 2020: ‘The Evolving NHS: Lessons for Pharma and Medtech’ a discussion between Tom Clarke and David Thorne (Directors, Mtech Access)