Services we offer
In this section you'll find information about the services
that NEAS provides to the public. Full details of the
operational services can be found here: who we
are and what we do.
On this page you'll find information on:
Patient Advice and Liaison Service
(PALS)
The Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) continues to work
closely with NEAS in providing:
- Advice and support to patients, their families and carers
- Information on NHS Services
- A point of contact to listen to patient's concerns, suggestions
or queries
- Help in sorting out problems quickly on behalf of the
patient.
You may wish to raise your concerns with someone who is not
involved in your care. The Patient Advice and Liaison can be
contacted on Freephone 0800 032 0202. You can find out more
about PALS from this website by clicking here
NEAS and
the environment
NEAS has made a commitment to reduce carbon consumption by 80%
by the year 2050. NEAS is currently using the NHS Paper: Saving Carbon, Improving Health, NHS Carbon
Reduction Strategy as a guide for reducing emissions in the
North East.
This will be a huge task. The NHS currently has a carbon
footprint of 18 million tonnes per year. Despite an increase in
efficiency, the NHS has increased its carbon imprint by 40% since
1990. To see the NHS Carbon Reduction Strategy you can click here.
NEAS has an Environmental Management Working Group, who
meet every three months to push environmental
initiatives.
The Environmental
Information Regulations Act gives any person the right to
access all recorded information about the environment that NEAS
holds.
However, we may not be able to give you some of the information
you have asked for if an exception applies, for example when to
disclose the information would in itself have a detrimental effect
on the environment or would concern national security.
However, even if the information falls within line of the
restricted categories, if it is in the public interest for the
information to be disclosed we will disclose it. A full guide to
the summary can be viewed here.
Communications
and media
The ambulance service is never very far away from the news.
The work we do brings us into regular contact with events which
make the front page of a newspaper, or the lead item on a radio or
television bulletin.
On a daily basis we take calls from UK journalists enquiring
about accidents, illnesses, policies and campaigns.
The job of the communications team is to make sure the right
facts are reported, hopefully by developing good relationships with
journalists. We often have a great story to tell.
You can contact the Communications office on 0191 430 2099
Engagement with patients
We aim to provide as high a quality service to our patients as
possible - and one of the best ways of finding out if we are doing
things right is by talking to them directly. We regularly
survey patients on their views, and hold continuous
discussions with local authority health overview and scrutiny
committees (OSCs) and Local Involvement Networks (LINks) about
service delivery and developments. Both of these patient and local
government groups have inspection rights and responsibilities for
reporting their findings on NEAS.
Engagement with staff
Our staff are the first point contact for patients and public
and it's important that the principals and values of the NHS -
nationally, regionally and locally - are understood and
upheld.
The team's activities include the development of new staff
communications channels as well as supporting the existing ones
(such as the staff newsletter), maintenance of the Intranet,
holding events, and focus groups.
Engagement with
communities
The NHS is being held increasingly more accountable and NEAS is
also increasingly dependent on the wider community to help deliver
objectives. Our goal is to ensure that there are sufficient
resources for good communications to be planned, managed and
evaluated across the 3,200 square miles that we cover. Now we
are a Foundation Trust, this means that we have a membership
that have an influence on decisions made and reflect the
communities that we serve. Therefore another goal is to ensure that
resources are in place to support this membership.
We have some leaflets below that you might find helpful, you can
view or download by clicking on them.
