THE new year has seen the introduction of a new Well-being Hub for all South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SECAmb) staff and volunteers.

The hub, part of the trust’s well-being strategy which was launched last year, brings together a range of previously separate services under one umbrella meaning an array of support is available via just one email or phone call.

The strategy is designed to ensure staff and volunteers have the support they need and, in turn, are best placed to meet the needs of the trust’s patients.

The hub includes access to mental and emotional well-being support, physical health including physiotherapy referrals and trauma risk management – a system which provides access to speak and meet with colleagues who have undergone specialist training in the management of people who have experienced traumatic incidents.

The confidential service can also provide access to support for other matters including relationships, finances, drugs and alcohol, sleep, nutrition and fitness and access to the dedicated team of trust chaplains.

It will also co-ordinate a wide range of workshops, specialist training and events to meet the needs of all its staff and volunteers.

SECAmb chief executive Daren Mochrie said: “One of the first things I did when I joined the trust in April last year was to sign off the trust’s new well-being strategy.

“During the consultation for the strategy, staff explained that they wanted to access all well-being services quickly and easily. I’m really proud that we now have our new Well-being Hub.

“It provides a single, clear and accessible point for all staff and volunteers to obtain wellbeing advice and support. It brings together a number of areas which, taken together, all impact on the well-being of staff but which previously had not always been very accessible, in a single place.

“Staff well-being is an integral part of our strategy and I see this launch as a real step forward in demonstrating our commitment to make things better for all staff and volunteers.”

• South East Coast Ambulance Service is now in the “middle of the pack” for response times nationally after new standards were introduced last year.

Last September SECAmb, which has been in special measures since May 2016, missed its target on almost half of the most serious 999 calls.

But new national performance standards were introduced several months later with the Ambulance Response Programme (ARP) going live in Surrey in late November.

And according to an update by the trust’s chief executive Daren Mochrie to its board members on January 11, the service is now “effectively in the middle of the pack”.

In a written update he said: “SECAmb are now providing performance data for comparison against all other ambulance trusts in England.

“This has demonstrated that the preparation and planning for the move to ARP has concluded effectively, with SECAmb now showing that it is effectively in the ‘middle of the pack’ from an ambulance performance perspective against the new ARP standard.”