This month's focus will be on our brilliant Transport division, which is one of the largest departments we have here at QE Facilities. The Transport division is incredibly diverse with a range of roles and sites.
Michael Humes a Transport Driver for QEF explains what his role entails.
“My role varies from day to day, since starting in March I have done patient transport runs, delivered letters to other hospitals and patients, transported samples from the path lab and transported vaccines and nurses to pop up Covid clinics across the region. I’ve also been involved in taking food donations from QE Facilities to the local food bank.
I love driving so I already love my job, but I’d say the best part is meeting lovely people; from people I work with to everyone I meet whilst I’m out and about doing various tasks throughout the day. The best thing is being able to help people whether this is my colleagues or members of the public.
I’d like people to understand I am not just a driver. My role involves a lot of communicating with the public. I help nurses take the equipment needed for pop up Covid clinics, but I also assist members of the public in any way I can whilst I’m there. I deliver prescriptions to people's houses and collect samples and deliver them to other hospitals or the path lab. Communication and people skills play a huge part of the role and are vital to the customer experience.”
Will Stacey is the Patient Transport Supervisor and has been working for QE Facilities since December 2021 he tells us more about his team:
“Within Patient Transport we have a relatively small team of 16 people, consisting of the PTS manager, 2 supervisors and the remainder PTS drivers. We may only be a small team but we play a very important role within the Trust, working alongside other departments to ensure that as a whole we optimise effectiveness and efficiency. We have a really good, caring team of patient transport drivers who are always willing to go the extra mile and take a real sense of pride in getting people home from hospital. There is a genuine sense of professionalism and each crew member seek the highest possible standards when carrying out their work. Each patient is treated with the dignity and respect they deserve, and our crew are always very caring and helpful.
We work as part of a team to ensure the smooth running of the Patient Transport Service, but my main responsibilities are to keep on top of our fleet of ambulances. I make sure they are all serviced and maintained so that they remain operational. All our ambulances are on a database which is audited monthly to ensure we are complying with all standard operating procedures. From time to time I still get to get out on the ambulance as a crew member, which for me is the best part of the job. It’s very rewarding seeing someone getting to leave hospital and go home.
I would highly recommend working in my role, it’s not always easy and at times it can be very challenging, but at the same time it is very rewarding. We are constantly learning new things and improving through experience and training. It’s a very interesting career, you get to meet people from many different walks of life, and you meet some fascinating people who often have a story to tell.”
Kevin Dunn is Warehouse supervisor and has worked at QE Facilities for 3 years he explains how his role differs and why He's proud to work as part of the Transport Team.
“I don’t think a lot of people know that there is a warehouse that stores the medical equipment before it is distributed around the hospital when needed. Essentially, we receive, collect and deliver medical equipment throughout the local trusts as required. Our team is relatively small, 3 members of staff, 2 forklift drivers and myself. Some days can be very physically demanding but the variety of day-to-day tasks make it more interesting and challenging.
I’m particularly proud of Transports involvement in the recent collection of donated medical equipment from trusts all over the North of England, that was then redistributed to help the Ukrainian relief effort. This included ambulances which QEF staff personally delivered to the Ukraine-polish border.”
Finally, we spoke to Luke Brown who is a Blood courier based at our Coventry site.
“I've been with the company for just over 3 years. My typical day includes driving duties this includes vehicle safety and inventory checks and transporting specimens from GP’s and pharmacies to hospital laboratories for testing. We must plan our journeys carefully, taking into account destinations and the timings for the blood collections to make the transport as efficient as possible.
Our team consists of around 30 drivers, 3 supervisors, 1 admin and 1 manager. Coventry transport has grown quite a lot since we started. We are all committed to a smooth-running transport service. It is a shared goal that the manager will embed in the team, so all of us are working towards the same goal. This role isn’t your typical 9-5 job, the transport service is a 24/7 service with many different shift patterns, and we provide our services all over Coventry, Warwickshire and even some deliveries into Birmingham.
I enjoy coming to work each day, I have a solid foundation and great support by the supervisors and managers. The biggest enjoyment I get from my job, is being part of the bigger picture. Knowing that I am making a difference and potentially saving people's lives by transporting very important laboratory specimens. I’m also proud to support the local community, I thoroughly enjoy building relationships with people and I feel like I am making a difference with what I do.
If you have a passion for your local community and making a difference, then Transport is a great career choice. It’s very diverse with a range of career options for a range of age groups.”