This year I announced that I would spend each of my periods when I am back in the constituency, volunteering with a cause I am campaigning about in Parliament.
At Easter I spent a week volunteering in a local care home for people with complex needs. Tomorrow, I will spend a week volunteering with the East of England Ambulance Team.
Our paramedics do an incredible job under enormous pressure. By spending a week volunteering with them I hope to learn and understand more in order to inform and shape my discussions with Ministers in government.
As well as tackling response times, for the past year along with Dr Victoria Holliday and others, we have been campaigning to increase the number of Community First Responders (CFRs) by reimbursing them in some way much as the retained fire service is. These discussions are progressing well as we campaign to do all we can to ensure our communities are safe.
Next week I will be on:
Monday with the CFR teams.
Tuesday at the NNUH on the welfare wagon supporting the ambulance crews.
Wednesday with the Rapid Response Vehicle crew in King’s Lynn
Thursday seeing how the integration with the fire service works and visiting the Wells cycle response unit.
Friday in the call centre to listen to call handling and watch dispatch.
I am enormously grateful to Tom Abell and his team for putting this together for me. I will keep everyone updated.
