3 minute read
Behind the flashing blue lights and sirens.
Team NWAS members working behind the scenes have been keeping things in line long before the pandemic so that we can continue to give you the best possible care. Sam Griffiths, Clinical Hub Manager is one of these people.
Sam, originally from Streatham in south-west London, has lived up north for 17 years in Rhyl, North Wales. She started her career at the ambulance service in 1999 at London Ambulance Service (LAS) as a call handler in their Emergency Operations Centre (EOC). Fast forward 21 years and Sam has worked her way to line managing clinicians based in their Clinical Hub, who assess patients with urgent and emergency conditions over the telephone, making sure they get the right care.
“The ambulance service wasn’t even on my radar when I was thinking of a career when I was younger. After university, I fell into bar work and eventually ended up as a pub landlady for a while in west London. I then became a parent and it wasn’t practical.
"When I saw an advert in a local newspaper for 999 call handlers, I applied and the rest is history.”
Sam quickly progressed in LAS from call handler to dispatcher to radio operator communicating directly with crews away from their station. But when she left LAS to work for the then-Mersey Regional Ambulance Service (MRAS) Sam had to resign her position and take up a role as call handler.
Sam adds: “The role of call handler was very different in those days. We took calls and wrote the details on colour coded paper dependant on the type of call. We then handed the paper to an allocator for an ambulance to be dispatched. In EOC now we have call handlers and dispatchers, the call handlers take the incoming 999 calls whilst the dispatchers monitor resources and send ambulances to patients – it is all computer-based.
“When I learned to dispatch in MRAS, there were occasions when we were rather short staffed and I remember taking an emergency call and then having to dispatch it myself. Luckily the volume of work was nothing in comparison to the volume of calls our EMDs have to deal with today. I have the utmost respect for EMDs - they are the first point of contact for the public and it can be an emotional rollercoaster on an hourly basis, with very little respite.”
Sam progressed at NWAS to the role of EOC performance manager which included working with ambulance crews, teaming up staff, making sure vehicles were safe, reporting and arranging their repairs whilst also managing staff.
“When the position of clinical hub manager came up, I went for it. I got it and it was quite a big jump which I was anxious about as I had never been a direct line manager of clinicians before.”
As an ambulance service, we’re at the heart of urgent and emergency care in the North West and the Clinical Hub is an integral part of this, so we are ready to respond to our patients’ needs.
The hub ensures that we’re providing the right response for each individual patient. This may be a referral to a GP, a trip to an urgent care centre or self-care at home. Last year, the Clinical Hub helped prevent 90,000 ambulance journeys for patients with less serious health needs as they were treated safely by other means – freeing ambulances up to attend people with life threatening conditions.
“I love my job. I have a fantastic team who work hard to provide great care for the people of the North West.
