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Setting the scene for a changing world
As I write my first foreword as President of the Association, I should start by introducing myself to those of you who do not already know me. After 34 years in the Ambulance Service, 17 of which were spent in a Control/Communication Manager role, I retired in May 2006. In spite of this, I am busier than ever in my role as a part-time communications manager to the East of England Ambulance Service and as a member of some committees at the Department of Health; for whom I continue to do some ad hoc project work. I also was the strategic commander (Communications) during the rail crash major incidents at Hatfield in 2000, Potters Bar in 2002 and the RAMP re-patriation arrangements for military casualties in the Gulf War conflict and I took a lead role around the control element of the Buncefield Oil Terminal fire.
I hope that my introduction has set the scene for my year as president which I know is going to be both challenging and exciting although I am not sure in which order! I am looking forward to meeting with as many members as possible during this coming year, and especially look forward to working with my fellow Executive colleagues and Regional committee members. I cannot emphasis how strongly I feel the benefit provided by the regions gives both to the executive committee and to the commercial members in determining the way forward for the association.
I feel I need to make special mention of the work that is taking place in Europe on BAPCO’s behalf by Kevin Robson and our Chief Executive, Ken Mott. The representation that BAPCO enjoys on the various committees in Europe, is not only important to BAPCO and its members but to the wider civil contingency family in the UK.
I would also like to thank my predecessor Tim O’Connor for the sterling work that he did last year; especially the work around the Training and Accreditation Project. This is another area that I hope we can continue to develop over the next few years.
A big challenge that I feel we must face is our ability to interface and work with other representative groups to assist in enabling true interoperability; both on a daily basis and on the, thankfully, rarer occasions of both natural and contrived disasters. This work has already started through the association hosting meetings of the Ambulance Service Association (ASA), Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) and Chief Fire Officers Association (CFOA) at the Annual Conference. It is imperative that we continue this work, in order to ensure that we assist both our members and the public
For those of you that attended our annual conference, I hope that you found it both enjoyable and informative and would like to emphasise that we welcome any feedback as it is important for future planning that we deliver what the membership require.
I am sure that we all recognise that in this changing world, the next year is going to be very challenging. However, I am confident that with the leadership of the Executive Team and regional teams and support of the members, 2007/08 will be a successful and fruitful year for the association.
Ray Trotter
President
