News
The Communiqué - Issue No 5 - November 2009
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£2m fleet expansion
Medical Services Ford Tourneo Connects on duty at Homerton Hospital Coming off the production line at a factory in Goole, South Yorkshire during November will be the first batch of a £2 million order for 100 of the latest ambulances to be added to the Medical Services fleet. The vehicles, Ford Tourneo Connects, are being specially converted by O&H Facilities to carry patients in wheelchairs. “This is one of our largest single investments in new additions to the fleet. The vehicles are needed to keep pace with the company’s continuing growth” said Kevin Shire, Director of Business Development. Recent new contracts won by Medical Services have included Moorfields Hospital and the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital. Healing power of toys
(L/R) Joe Sheehan, Managing Director, Medical Services, Kevin Shire, Director of Business Development, Medical Services, Shaun Caton, Arts Curator, Homerton Hospital, Bunny Campione, Cliff Hammond-Reed Deputy Director of Environment, Homerton Hospital, and Dr Jeff Keep, Consultant Medical Director, Medical Services The power of toys in treating sick children was stressed by Dr Jeff Keep, Consultant Medical Director of Medical Services Limited when he spoke at the opening of the Hidden Treasures Exhibition at the Homerton Hospital, London recently. Dr Keep said that in his work in A&E at King's College Hospital, London the doctors see a lot of very sick and frightened children every day and the one additional thing they are able to give them is a toy which is a distraction and helps relieve their pain. Playing with toys is like occupational therapy and physiotherapy for kids. Medical Services was the main sponsor of the exhibition which is a collection of photographs of toys throughout the ages, and is the result of a collaborative project between the Homerton and the V&A’s Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green. The photographs were taken by the hospital’s arts curator, Shaun Caton who was given exclusive access to the Museum’s basement stores to seek out his subjects….many of the toys featured have never been seen in public. The exhibition was opened by Bunny Campione, the BBC’s Antique Roadshow toys expert. Dedicated service for Aintree
Medical Services have started a dedicated Rapid Access Transport Service to speed up handling the discharge and/or transfer of A&E patients at the Aintree University Hospital, Liverpool. Co-ordinated by our Warrington office the service runs Monday to Saturday 1100 until 2200 and offers flexible options to carry multiple patients in one journey, or the ability to transfer High Dependency patients with a medical team. Earlier this year a similar service was created at the Royal Liverpool Hospital which has proved to be success. Supporting kidney patients
On duty in Porthcawl were Michelle Gall and Tim Jones from our station in Neath.
We exhibited at both annual conferences of the UK
National Kidney Federation in Blackpool and the Welsh Kidney Patients’
Association in Porthcawl in October.
The programme at
the Federation event included presentations on renal innovation initiatives,
advances in the treatment of nephritic syndrome and nocturnal dialysis; among
speakers at the Welsh event, which is jointly sponsored by Medical Services, was
Rhian Cooke, Live Donor Co-ordinator for the University In a busy month for our exhibition team also participated at two NHS Confederation events in London: Community Services – The future of healthcare and the Emergency & Urgent Care Ambulance Service Network Annual Conference & Exhibition.
Medical Services' first 'export'
One of Medical Services’ first ‘exports’ is Doug Barns who left the company last year after marrying Erin, a Canadian girl, to start a new life in Calgary, home of the famous stampede. Doug trained as an EMT, working on HDU ambulances. He was later promoted and switched to Great Ormond Street Hospital to supervise on the Non Emergency PTS contract for us. Nowadays he is using many of the skills he learned at Medical Services in his local government work for the City of Calgary Accessible Transport which provides journeys to people who are unable to access public transport due to ill health, accessibility or disability. Journeys are provided for any reason from social events to dialysis and access to education. This service runs alongside the everyday public transport system and service users have to meet set criteria post eligibility interview to access the service. Every ride costs the same as public transport which is $2.50/£1.30 per journey. Doug who is responsible for the smooth running of up to 4000 journeys a day, is quick to point: ”Yes, it is exciting and new, but you do earn your wages each day!” (A bit like home then! Ed) |
Thanks to Mary's 'Kind Boys'
Three of 'Mrs Mary's Kind Boys' - Jerome Bunce, Kanwal Shergill, Rawlins Baldeo; the other two Karl Pasalk and Kenzie Lucien were off duty when Communiqué's photographer called.
For more than two years 'Mrs Mary' was transported by Medical Services every few days from a nursing home in Buckinghamshire for treatment at the Auchi Dialysis Unit at Hammersmith Hospital, London; sadly she recently died aged 79 but now her daughter and son, Ann and John have written to Joe Sheehan, managing director, about the ‘exceptional caring natures and dedication’ of our ambulance crews.
In their letter they refer specifically to Karl Pasalk, Kanwal Shergill, Rawlins Baldeo and Kenzie Lucien saying they were ‘nothing but kind, caring, gentle, thoughtful and compassionate whilst conducting themselves in the most professional manner at all times”.
The letter also included a special word of praise for Jerome Bunce, one of our on site staff, who co-ordinated Mary’s journeys with the unit. Whenever there might have been a problem he “went out of his way to ensure that everything was sorted out as quickly, smoothly, efficiently and calmly as possible”.
The letter concluded: “They made our Mum’s life just a little easier on dialysis days. She completely loved her ‘boys’ and they were always totally wonderful with her”.
Joe, who has written back to 'Mrs Mary's' children, said: “It was so thoughtful of them to acknowledge our people in this way. They certainly appreciated their kind words”.
We changed our way of working at the unit nearly 2 years ago after input from the senior nursing staff. The acute dialysis unit now have their own dedicated stretcher ambulances and that really helps with communication, the crews do feel part of the team.
