Isle of Man Ambulance Service and St John Ambulance Relationship

Summary

The request sought details on the operational relationship, funding, and tendering processes between the Isle of Man Ambulance Service and St John Ambulance, including potential conflicts of interest. The authority disclosed that St John Ambulance provides an Urgent Transfer Service using IoMAS vehicles and supplies, with training provided by IoMAS, and previously offered informal surge capacity.

Key Facts

• St John Ambulance provides the Urgent Transfer Service (UTS) for planned patient transfers and airport links to reduce strain on emergency resources.
• The Isle of Man Ambulance Service provides the vehicle, fuel, and supplies for the UTS, as well as mandatory clinical training.
• Prior to the UTS contract, St John Ambulance provided informal surge capacity during peak demand and backfilled crews during annual training.
• The UTS vehicle can respond to critical 999 calls if it is the nearest available ambulance.
• The Chief Ambulance Officer's potential conflict of interest regarding St John Ambulance membership was raised but not explicitly addressed in the provided text.

Data Disclosed

• 85.5 hours
• 2018
• 26 February 2019
• 4th March 2019
• 744366

Original Request

Question 1 - What is the full extent of the relationship between the Isle of Man Ambulance Service and St Johns Ambulance Question 2 - St John Ambulance Service is now doing emergency calls for the Isle of Man Ambulance service. Is this paid for or is there some other form of payment such as training or supplies? Question 3 - St Johns Ambulance Service is now doing airport transfers and patient transfers after an open tendering process. Where was this tendering process advertised and when? Question 4 - The Current Chief Ambulance Officer is a member/ex-member of St John Ambulance, does he make the decision on all the Tendering Processes / joint working etc. and if this is the case is this not a conflict of interest? Clarification sought on: Question 1 - What is the full extent of the relationship between the Isle of Man Ambulance Service and St Johns Ambulance? Please can you be specific and clarify what you mean by relationship between the Isle of Man Ambulance Service and St Johns Ambulance? Response Could you explain all the partnership working they do together. How much training and resources does the Isle of Man Ambulance Service provide for St John's Ambulance and vice versa? Who is making the decisions of their joint working and was there a tendering process for this?

Data Tables (1)

Full Response Text

Chief Executive: Malcolm Couch Freedom of Information Team DHSC, Crookall House Demesne Road Douglas IM1 3QA

(01624) 642621 dhsc@foi.gov.im Website: www.gov.im/dhsc

Our ref: 744366 4th March 2019

Dear ###

We write further to your request which was received on 26 February 2019 and states:

Question 1 What is the full extent of the relationship between the Isle of Man Ambulance Service and St Johns Ambulance? Question 2 St John Ambulance Service is now doing emergency calls for the Isle of Man Ambulance service. Is this paid for or is there some other form of payment such as training or supplies? Question 3 St Johns Ambulance Service is now doing airport transfers and patient transfers after an open tendering process. Where was this tendering process advertised and when? Question 4 The Current Chief Ambulance Officer is a member/ex-member of St John Ambulance, does he make the decision on all the tendering processes / joint working etc. and if this is the case is this not a conflict of interest? Clarification sought on: Question 1 - What is the full extent of the relationship between the Isle of Man Ambulance Service and St Johns Ambulance? Please can you be specific and clarify what you mean by relationship between the Isle of Man Ambulance Service and St Johns Ambulance?

Response Could you explain all the partnership working they do together. How much training and resources does the Isle of Man Ambulance Service provide for St John's Ambulance and vice versa? Who is making the decisions of their joint working and was there a tendering process for this? We are pleased to be able to provide a response to your request with answers to your questions: Question 1 Could you explain all the partnership working they do together. How much training and resources does the Isle of Man Ambulance Service provide for St John's Ambulance and vice versa? Who is making the decisions of their joint working and was there a tendering process for this? Prior to the establishment of the Urgent Transfer Service (UTS), there was an informal arrangement whereby St John Ambulance (SJA) would provide additional ambulance capacity if there was a significant surge in emergency demand. The SJA capacity was activated by the Ambulance Duty Officer during times of peak demand, when there was felt to be risk of patient harm due to lack of ambulance capacity. In addition, SJA provided capacity to backfill crews during the period of annual update training that all Paramedics, Technicians and Emergency Care Assistants must complete each year. During 2018, we used 85.5 hours of SJA capacity.

Question 2 St John Ambulance Service is now doing emergency calls for the Isle of Man Ambulance service. Is this paid for or is there some other form of payment such as training or supplies? SJA has recently commenced provision of the UTS on behalf of Isle of Man Ambulance Service. The purpose of the UTS is to undertake planned stretcher transfers between healthcare locations (i.e. Noble’s to Ramsey, Noble’s to nursing homes) as well as undertaking transfers to and from the airport to link with the Air Ambulance Service – this planned transfer work has previously been undertaken by the 999 Ambulance Service, placing an additional strain on our limited emergency ambulance resource. The UTS vehicle is also able to respond to 999 calls if there is a very serious 999 call received (i.e. cardiac or respiratory arrest) and the UTS vehicle is the nearest available ambulance to respond to provide urgent care to the critically ill patient. As part of the contract, Isle of Man Ambulance Service has provided training for those members of staff the SJA have employed to provide the UTS, and will continue to provide refresher training to staff members to maintain skills and clinical competency, as Isle of Man Ambulance Service is the only accredited ambulance education provider on the Isle of Man. In addition, the Isle of Man Ambulance Service provide the vehicle in which the UTS service operates, as well as the supplies used and the fuel consumed. As the UTS vehicle is one of our existing fleet, there is no additional cost to the government around vehicle purchase or maintenance.

Question 3 St Johns Ambulance Service is now doing airport transfers and patient transfers after an open tendering process. Where was this tendering process advertised and when? Respondents were able to register expressions of interest on our Procurement Portal between the 12th and 27th July 2018. The Procurement Division website can be viewed on the following link https://www.gov.im/about-the- government/offices/attorney-generals-chambers/civil-division/procurement-division/
there is also a downloadable document with the results of tenders. Question 4 The Current Chief Ambulance Officer is a member/ex-member of St John Ambulance, does he make the decision on all the tendering processes / joint working etc. and if this is the case is this not a conflict of interest? The current Head of Ambulance and Paramedic Services is a senior member of SJA, Isle of Man and he concentrates on the delivery of training to SJA members on a voluntary basis in his own time. He has had no involvement in the management of the SJA service or the tender process. Even though SJA were the only respondents to the tender, he was not involved in the selection process, including the scoring of the bid against the selection criteria. Please quote the reference number 744366 in any future communications.

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I will now close your request as of this date.

Yours sincerely