Andrew Pooley’s Day on the Road
On a cold day in November, our Managing Director, Andrew Pooley, put on his “greens” for the day and went on the road with our patient transport crew in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire. Here’s how his day went:
What prompted you to spend a day on the road?
It’s really important for leaders of organisations to spend some time in day-to-day operations and find out directly how your staff are getting on. As much as I would like to spend time with each and every employee, we have over 900 staff all over the UK. Our leadership team and operations managers are completely trusted to make decisions in line with our company strategy. So when I’m involved from an operational perspective, it’s usually because we have an incident or an escalation. And of course, that’s a small percentage of what’s actually happening in the company.
What were you hoping to gain from this experience?
I was hoping to get a sense of how everyone is getting on and what their challenges are, especially around COVID. I haven’t been on the road for a while, and I was keen to get some up-to-date feedback.
When was the last time you were “on the road”?
When I was a Junior Operations Manager seven years ago. I would often do the odd shift with the crew. So although it’s been a while, I know what’s involved in the job.
How did you spend your day?
I spent the morning with one crew and the afternoon with another – both crews were chosen at random. I spent the day going back and forth from Kings Mill Hospital. The patient journeys were very varied. For example, one was undergoing renal treatment, one had a fracture, and another was discharged on a stretcher. One that stood out was a patient with very tricky access to their home which was a challenge for the crew, but they took it in their stride
What were your main takeaways from the day?
What really stood out was the crews I spent time with really love their jobs, and interacting with patients and healthcare staff. Their humour and genuine kindness for the people in their care was inspiring. Despite all the challenges they face with COVID-19, there wasn’t a moment that they weren’t joking around and making patients or their colleagues at the hospital laugh. I often talk about the time spent on transport is a big factor in a patient’s experience of healthcare, and if yesterday was anything to go by, then as an organisation, we are doing something right. The team also had a lot of good ideas for company initiatives which they shared with me and I will look to implement next year. Overall it helped me reconnect with the reasons why people do this job, and it’s the same reasons I was attracted to this industry. I plan to do this on a regular basis in each of our regions.
Find out more about a career on the road with our Patient Transport and Healthcare Courier crew.
