Long term, bespoke support as needed

South Central Ambulance Service (SCAS) Trust provides urgent care and emergency response services in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Hampshire and Oxfordshire, an area with a resident population of circa 7 million. The Trust also provides non‐emergency patient transport services in this area, and throughout East Sussex, Surrey and West Sussex, and a healthcare logistics service to NHS customers in Oxfordshire.

SCAS operates a mixed fleet of more than 900 vehicles and has an in-house fleet maintenance and management business. We have partnered with SCAS for several years, offering support to a variety of challenges.

• Our first assignment was to investigate a whistleblowing incident in the fleet organisation. We were able to promptly, thoroughly and objectively investigate the claims in a way that earned the trust of all sides and with valuable insights on how the fleet organisation could improve productivity and thereby vehicle availability.
• Observations we made during the investigation led to a wider piece of work to begin a process of change in the fleet organisation centred around systems, communications and productivity.
• We have also supported SCAS in a refresh of its strategy and a review of operational opportunities in the 999 and 111 call centres.
• SCAS identified an urgent need to improve the management of critical equipment and medical devices and asked us to assess the current situation and make recommendations. This led to a project to improve and implement new robust systems to better plan, control and report on the whereabouts and status. A key component of this work was to ensure the correct structural accountabilities were put in place.
• Our most recent work involves organisational redesign and the design of a third-party contractor management system to provide SCAS with increased visibility and control over performance.

Chief Operating Officer Paul Kempster said of our work ‘Collinson Grant have proved to be a trusted advisor in helping us to understand key issues that have been impacting on the performance of some business-critical areas that support the delivery of patient care. They have been very responsive to our needs, recognising the urgency required to understand the causes of some significant problems and then developing credible plans to address these problems with pace.’