In a press release, the NFCC stated that the crisis ‘has been very real for some weeks and could continue for the next few months, even years’, and that over the last 12 weeks UK FRSs have ‘been focused on getting through this’, and ‘like other frontline services have done what they do best, which is supporting the communities they serve’. With the UK transitioning from ‘emergency to recovery’, the NFCC is ‘now focused on what the new business as usual might look like’ for FRSs.
It has recently formed a C19 committee to ‘ensure seamless transition from response to recovery’, as well as asking ‘what they have learned through the pandemic’, including documenting ‘key learning around how the NFCC and FRSs work’, feeding this into ‘any national or cross-government learning’. Monitoring COVID-19 related absences as well as provision of personal protective equipment, access to testing and social distancing measures all form part of the programme.
Specifically, these elements would be part of its operational oversight element, and the NFCC warned that ‘recovery too will be key’, both as a sector and ‘with regard to how communities continue to be supported over the next 12 months by FRSs’, in conjunction with the government’s COVID-19 Act. ‘Many more discussions’ will be required around technology and ‘how new ways of working using digital platforms could play a key part of the work of FRSs’.
This could be a focus particularly in terms of education, training and staff engagement, and the committee will ‘look to take and incorporate’ lessons learned from the last 12 weeks to ‘ensure’ these feed ‘into any national learning’, as well as ensuring that both the NFCC and FRSs are ‘as well, if not better prepared for another extraordinary event of this kind’.
It concluded that while ‘it’s still very early days’ as the committee ‘evolves’, it is ‘committed to learn from the last few weeks and use best practice to map out [a] new normal to ensure FRSs continue to be ready, willing and able to deal with whatever lies ahead’. NFCC chair Roy Wilsher stated: ‘It’s in the DNA of [FRSs] to do whatever they can to serve our communities and we must recognise the huge contribution they have made to communities across the country during the pandemic.
‘The low absence figure of just five percent for all staff during this crisis has been a testament to that commitment. We are now going through a transition and recovery position and we know we are going to have to change. So, current discussions are very much about how we move into our new “business as usual” safely in terms of social distancing, washing hands and PPE where required, to reduce risk and protect people.’
In the early stages of lockdown, the NFCC, Fire Brigades Union (FBU) and the national employer confirmed that additional activities to assist other key services during the pandemic had been agreed for FRS staff, including mask face fitting, delivering personal protective equipment (PPE), administering tests, and driving as well as training on driving ambulances.
In April, a further agreement saw 300 London Fire Brigade (LFB) firefighters drive ambulances and assist paramedics in London’s pandemic response, after news that firefighters would aim to protect the vulnerable in society by avoiding hospitals and care homes, as part of an agreed ‘critical risk-based service’.
Prior to this, FRS staff had been confirmed to be undertaking COVID-19 antigen testing, driving non blue light ambulance transport and non COVID patients, and training others to drive ambulances for the same services. Other activities ‘requested by partner organisations’ were ‘still under discussion’. Also in April, it was revealed that over 4,000 FRS staff had volunteered to assist the other key services, while a further 10,000 staff were ‘on standby to assist as and when required’.
In May, the three bodies agreed firefighters could build protective face shields for frontline NHS staff and care staff, and transfer patients from and to Nightingale hospitals, alongside packaging and repackaging food supplies. Recently, the NFCC confirmed FRSs would ‘work with local partners to support care homes’ and stop the spread of COVID-19, the three bodies agreeing that ‘helping those who need it most is in the DNA of [FRS] staff; showing their dedication and commitment to those who need it most’.
Most recently the NFCC confirmed that the FRS agreements have been ‘extended’ so that staff can ‘continue to support the NHS, ambulance services, local authorities and other vital organisations’, following ‘extensive negotiations’ that lasted ‘a number of days’. FRSs ‘will remain at the heart of the response’, and continue to undertake the agreed activities ‘until at least’ 26 July, with the potential to ‘extend further’ to 26 August ‘if joint work on reviewing assessments is agreed and concluded’.