Project Summary
Transaid is going through a process of training administrative staff within St John’s African offices to build their capacity for managing their ambulance fleets with the ultimate aim of improving the levels of service they can offer to their local communities. Following the successful training of the Zambian office, which has already proved to be of significant benefit to the UK based St John Secretariat, Transaid is embarking on delivering a training course for St John Uganda.
The Problem
St John Uganda supplements the sparse emergency health fleet owned by the government of Uganda to provide emergency health care and emergency transport to the local population in Kampala. St John aims to provide a low cost and efficient service to the community and effective management of the two operational ambulances is essential. At present, the administrative staff do not have the training or skills to efficiently manage the vehicles and do not collect or analyse even the most basic transport data such as fuel consumption, running costs or vehicle utilisation.
The Process
Transaid conducted a training session for six staff including administrators, trainers and the ambulance technician covering the following topics:
• The need for a comprehensive and agreed transport policy
• The financial cost of running ambulances
• Key performance indicators of efficient transport
Included in the training was information about the kind of data which St John needed to be collecting and analysing, and the tools available such as log books and transport management systems which can be used.
Partners
St John Secretariat in the UK
St John Uganda
Results
Following the training St John Uganda can now calculate the precise costs associated with running their ambulances and where possible pass on any cost savings from efficient operation of the ambulances to people who require emergency transport. St John themselves have expressed gratitude for the training and are excited about commencing a process to make their ambulance operation more efficient and of greater value to their community.
Impact
St John in Uganda has responded to a number of emergencies and also maintains a presence at public events where their first aid services may be called into action. Emergency calls include pregnant women who are having complications and need to be referred from a clinic to a hospital and road traffic crashes which are serious enough for the police to call upon the services of the St John ambulances, often saving lives.
For emergency calls from the public, St John has to charge a fee for the use of the ambulance in order to cover costs and maintain service levels. By reducing the cost of operating the ambulances St John can reduce the fees they charge to the public, essentially providing more and more people with access to emergency transport when previously they may not have been able to afford it.
“Thank you Transaid. Following today’s training not only can we calculate the precise costs associated with our ambulance service, but we can work to ensure optimum utilization of our vehicles, reduce our running costs and pass all these benefits onto the citizens of Kampala whom we serve. We are looking forward to using our new knowledge to improve the level of service we can provide as our vehicles will be more cost effective and as such more accessible to the urban poor who require our assistance.”
Christine Nandyose Kasirye, National Executive Secretary, St John - Uganda
