Collaboration and Governance in the Emergency Services

Abstract

The context of global emergency services landscape is changing. The recent tragic events in London, Paris, Manchester and around the world have highlighted the difficult and challenging role played by the emergency services. Their swift and professional response draws universal praise but also raises issues around reduced funding levels and job-cuts to match heightened security threat. Several barriers hamper collaboration efforts between the emergency services. As the book argues, there are significant shifts in the demand patterns for blue light services. Ambulance demand in the UK is growing at an annual rate of about 5 per cent. The police services are witnessing a reduction in recorded crime but are dealing increasingly with cases relating to cybercrime, child and sexual exploitation and mental illness. Fire services have seen a massive reduction in incidence of fire. However, these organisations continue to be performance-managed and target-driven, and current models of service delivery do not reflect these changes, severely impacting the capacity to collaborate. Such unprecedented period of change is accompanied by major legislative and political changes, especially in the UK.. In addressing the issues around governance and interoperability between the emergency services, we offer critical insights and empirical evidence including our own research. Given the scope of this Pivot volume, we have focused on few key themes, which in our view are critical to the success of the collaboration and governance agenda. These include trust, leadership, workface resilience and organisational culture(s). We sincerely hope that the discussion and analysis provided on the chosen themes will not only be of help to emergency service staff, managers and service leaders but also appeal in equal measure to students, academics, public managers and policymakers.