BROADCASTS.com

\nPulling together for a common cause
\n
\n\n\nLeon Daniels OBE has worked alongside many people in his transport career, and when he was MD Surface Transport at TfL one of his \u2018right-hand\u2019 people was Chief Operating Officer: Garrett Emmerson.
\n
\n\n\nAt the end of May 2017 Garrett became CEO of the London Ambulance Service (LAS) after it was put into \u2018special measures\u2019 by the Care Quality Commission (not due to the quality of care but its organisation) with a brief to turn it around.
\n
\n\n\nJust four days later LAS responded to the London Bridge terrorist attacks (initially reported as a traffic accident), then 11 days later came the Grenfell Tower fire.
\n
\n\n\nGarrett talks with Leon about what happened during his first fortnight in post, and then how as the Covid pandemic unfolded in early 2019 LAS came under massive pressure.
\n
\n\n\nHe drew on his experience of organisation of the 2012 London Olympics, \u201cbut we had seven years to plan that and knew what was due to happen every day,\u201d he tells Leon. \u201cIn the pandemic we had about seven days to respond to a single crisis as it unfolded.\u201d
\n
\n\n\nHe recalls the day when he was told that he might lose 25% of staff due to infection, as 999 ambulance call volumes jumped from 5,500 on a \u2018busy day\u2019 to 8,500 calls on \u2018many days\u2019 and 111 call volumes tripled.
\n
\n\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s amazing what you can do when you put the entire resources into a project \u2013 I knew what you could do if you devoted the whole organisation to one single task,\u201d he says.
\n
\n\n\nHe explains how a new call centre was built over a weekend, as LAS needed more call handlers.\xa0
\n
\n\n\n\u201cWe didn\u2019t have the capacity to answer 999 ambulance calls. Normally it takes five weeks to train a call handler, then another four weeks of mentoring support. We didn\u2019t have that sort of time.\xa0
\n
\n\n\n\u201cFrom conception \u2013 how it might work \u2013 to implementation, we built a brand-new call centre over a weekend specifically for handling Covid calls. On the Monday morning, it opened with new staff \u2013 second year paramedic students \u2013 who had sufficient clinical knowledge to deal with Covid calls.\u201d
\n
\n\n\nCrisis was averted due to the \u201cfantastic effect of lockdown\u201d on the spread of Covid, buying more time.
\n
\n\n\nGarrett also recalls how lateral thinking saw a call to The AA, who released all 177 of its roadside staff in London so that LAS could boost its 50 vehicle technicians to 230 and run LAS workshops 24/7 to keep ambulances on the road.
\n
\n\n\nThey also helped to commission new ambulances \u2013 previously done at two a week \u2013 to add 110 new and secondhand vehicles in just three weeks, by taking over part of West Ham Bus Garage.
\n
\n\n