Ambulance Service Above and Beyond the Call of Duty Awards 2015

EMBARGOED UNTIL FRIDAY, 9 OCTOBER 23:00

North East Ambulance Service (NEAS) employees were recognised for working Above and Beyond the Call of Duty (ABCD Awards) and Long Service at an awards ceremony that took place on Friday, 9 October, at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Durham.

A record entry of more than 250 people were nominated by patients, public and colleagues for ABCD awards this year; along with 78 staff who received their Long Service Award; totalling 1,690 years of service between them.

The ABCD award winners were announced in the following categories:

Emergency Care:                             Bernie Wells, paramedic

Patient Transport Services:            Jim Furnevel

Contact Centre:                                Craig Foster

Support Services:                            Sheelagh Davies

Mentor of the year:                           Philip Baxter, paramedic

Student of the year:                         Leanne Humberstone

Team of the year:                             Recruitment

Public nomination:                          Colin Davison, Patient Transport Services

Unsung hero:                                   Heather Crosbie

Services to the community:            Tracy Sinton

Chairman’s award:                          Karen Gardner

*winner biographies are below

There were also seven people present on the night who recently received a Queen’s medal.  The Queen’s medal is issued under Royal Warrant to emergency ambulance staff who have demonstrated good conduct throughout a working period of more than 20 years.  Staff must have at least 20 years of service in frontline Emergency Care or seven years frontline experience and 13 years in Emergency Care management to qualify. 

This year’s medals were presented to 14 employees by the Lord-Lieutenant of Tyne and Wear, Mrs Susan Winfield OBE on Friday, 2 October 2015. 

Chief Executive of NEAS, Yvonne Ormston, said: “This is an occasion to really say thank you and recognise all of our staff. They do an amazing job, quite often above and beyond the call of duty. 

“Working for an emergency service regularly means putting others first at the expense of personal and family lives on both the front line and in supporting roles.  I am enormously proud and happy to celebrate their achievements and also thank family and loved ones who allow our staff to do such an amazing job.”

North East Ambulance Service covers 3,200 square miles, employs more than 2,500 staff and serves a population of 2.7 million.

In the last year NEAS responded to 302,687 incidents that resulted in a patient being taken to hospital.  They treated and discharged 18,144 patients with telephone advice, and 81,900 patients at the scene without the need to convey them to hospital.  Over the 12 months they answered 1.107 million emergency and 111 calls, responded to 134,745 *red incidents within 8 minutes and completed 741,655 patient transport journeys to and from hospital.

-ENDS-

Winners biographies:

Emergency Care

WINNER: Bernie Wells

Paramedic Bernie Wells recently became an Emergency Care Clinical Manager.  Over the last 5 years Bernie has gone out of his way to support patients at the end of their lives.  Having studied the topic at MSc level, Bernie has used his skills to try and incorporate better care for patients being looked after by our service at the end of their lives. When faced with high demand, end of life patients have sometimes waited longer to be taken home by ambulance to die with dignity.  Where possible, Bernie has sourced staff and vehicles and even collected patients himself so that patients could die in their own home.

Passionate about caring for patients and their families, Bernie is well respected for his work and as a result, there is now a clinical placement for end of life incorporated within the student paramedic’s university course and Bernie himself has won a PHD in end of life patients.

Thanks to Bernie’s inspiration, NEAS is now collaborating with partners to improve end of life care and more people get to die with dignity.  We are extremely proud of all that he has achieved.

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Marie Trotter, Mark Henderson and Steve Miles

Patient Transport Services

WINNER: Jim Furnevel

Jim was nominated by a patient who says, ‘you know you’re with someone special when you’re with Jim’.  Having transported one of his patients for many years, Jim and colleague Steve have given him endless confidence to stand up, walk, navigate his front steps and get on board the ambulance during a difficult time.  Good friends with similar interests in music, Jim even thoughtfully recorded hours of music in his own time especially for Terry to guess the singers and year. 

Before he retires, his patient wanted to be sure Jim was recognised as the most outstanding, caring ambulance man of all, whose humour and kindness will be a great miss.  He wanted to say thank you for his quiet professionalism and for all the help he has given his patients and particularly his patient, now friend, who feels lucky to have met him.

HIGHLY COMMENDED: David Willey and Sheila Teixeira

Contact Centre

WINNER: Craig Foster

Craig is a dedicated call handler with a positive attitude who firmly believes that if he is doing what he should be, he will make a difference to more and more patients.  Passionate about what he does, Craig is described by his team leader as a ‘fantastic role model, who has a ‘caring and compassionate nature’ and always makes his patients the priority.  This year he has had 2 successful CPR calls on infants from 111 callers, which is considered to be probably the best kind of patient experience.

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Natasha Low

Support Services

WINNER: Sheelagh Davies

Sheelagh’s dedication, professionalism and hard work ensure that we all get paid each month.  She puts in long hours to make sure that we get paid correctly and she does it with humour and endless patience.  She even limits her holidays to ensure that she is around for payroll closedown to take queries on payday and frequently comes in to work at weekends in her own time to make sure things run smoothly.  She is a great support to HR and finance colleagues and without her commitment, her nominee felt that the place would fall apart.  Sheelagh’s colleagues describe her as a one woman wonder woman!

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Nicola Couley

Mentor of the year

WINNER: Philip Baxter

Phil Baxter has been a paramedic for almost 30 years with NEAS in the rural community of Barnard Castle where he has helped to provide the local community with 8 more much needed paramedics to care for patients in the area.

Colleagues at his station believe he has made a fantastic contribution to the development of staff over the last few years as a mentor for 8 people who have since qualified as paramedics.  Described as having his own individual ‘style’ of mentoring, Phil has shared his skills and knowledge to support and guide his colleagues, much to the appreciation of his team.

Phil is a larger than life character with a colourful vocabulary, who is well loved and respected and renowned for his calm and measured response to even the most stressful of situations.  Due to retire soon, he will be a big miss.

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Sharon Monaghan

Student of the year

WINNER: Leanne Humberstone

Leanne was nominated for her independent and approachable nature.  A student who meticulously follows procedures, she is considered to be providing a kind and caring service to her customers using the Patient Transport Service, supporting them throughout their journey to hospital.  Her nominee recalled an observation when she used her initiative to ask if a patient might prefer a wheelchair to give them more support and was rewarded with great thanks.  She then went on to change the patient’s preferences at booking for future journeys.

Her infectious smile puts patients at ease and her commitment to learning and willingness to apply what she has learned during her working day is commendable and a pleasure to see for her tutors.

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Beverley Rycroft

Team of the year

WINNER: Recruitment admin team

Faced with the challenges of a national shortage of qualified paramedics and significant changes to the training requirements for newcomers to the profession, the recruitment admin team has remained committed to supporting the Trust reach full establishment.

Over the past 12 months, the team has overcome its own staff changes to process close to 7000 applications to fill 850 whole time equivalent posts.  They have now reduced the recruitment period, created a recruitment guide, developed careers videos and a candidate zone on the internet and promoted the service at events across the region. 

As a result, the contact centre now has a full establishment of staff, all Emergency Care Assistants and Emergency Care Technicians courses are now full until next year and 53 Emergency Care Clinical Managers are now in post.

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Customer Care and Research and Development

Particular praise must also go to the highly commended teams.

• Customer Care team has developed an excellent working relationship with nursing staff at units in South Tyneside, which has reduced the number of complaints about the dialysis service we offer and improved patient care.The CCG is now in the process of scoping out an extension to the threeyear contract which was due to end in July 2016.
• The care we deliver to patients must have a solid base of evidence in order to be effective and for our clinicians to have faith in what they are doing.Research and development team brings in more than £200,000 of external funding and is involved in projects as diverse as stroke, sepsis, cardiac arrest, trauma, orthopaedics, triage techniques, referral pathways, head injuries, leadership and quality improvement.The team has built strong relationships with other trusts, universities, ambulance services and industry to further develop our reputation as a forward thinking, innovative organisation.

Public nomination

WINNER: Colin Davison

Colin was nominated by a patient who he helped to deliver their first baby after being sent home from hospital.  The nomination, entitled ‘AMAZING bloke’, explains the patients fear and panic about the likelihood of her having to deliver her baby at home by Colin and his team mate.  Having lost her mother a few weeks prior to giving birth, the patient was terrified about the experience and uncomfortable when a back up crew arrived on scene.  She dedicates her nomination to Colin to thank him personally for helping to put her at ease during a difficult time and for safely delivering her baby daughter.

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Paul Smith

Unsung hero

WINNER: Heather Crosbie

Paramedic Heather Crosbie volunteered to be part of a joint emergency services project called Operation Dragoon, aimed at raising awareness of dangerous driving amongst 16-23 year olds.  Having no experience of public speaking did not put Heather off wanting to help young people understand the potential consequences of being involved in a road traffic collision. 

Following a series of videos from families who have lost their loved ones, Heather sensitively recalled her own physical and emotional reactions to events she herself has witnessed to an audience of over 200. This is something which can be difficult to explain for employees who are taught to react to situations with professionalism and deal with emotions later.

A true credit to NEAS, Heather overcame her fears and represented NEAS as caring, skilled and professional workforce, receiving high praise from the Chairman and Deputy Chief Constable and undoubtedly ensuring more young people stay safe on the roads.

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Vince McCluskey

Services to the community

WINNER: Tracy Sinton

Paramedic Tracy Sinton was nominated by all of the staff at her station in South Shields for her kindness, care and compassion.  After a very difficult time in her life, Tracy has raised thousands of pounds for The Future Fund, which raises money for cancer research.  As part of her fundraising she set up a station tuck shop, which she prepares in her own time, to keep crews fed and watered, making for a happier and healthier workforce.  Her colleagues are extremely proud of her and wanted her to be recognised as the truly amazing and strong woman that they know her to be.

HIGHLY COMMENDED: Maureen Jordan and Maureen Morien

Volunteer of the year

WINNER: Ian Garrett

Ian has been volunteering as a Community First Responder for 15 years, during which time he has gone above and beyond the call of duty, helping to champion and promote the role.  Ian runs the East Durham Community First Responder charity in his own time, with support from NEAS.  He has also set up a community base Heartstart teaching course free of charge with help from NEAS employee Grant Holland, for people in the local community.

He was responsible for the successful resuscitation of a 17 year old boy in Easington in 2012 and he also supported emergency care staff in 2014 with the successful resuscitation of 7 separate casualties within only a few weeks in East Durham.

Known by ambulance crews as a hard working and caring responder, Ian really is a true unsung hero.

HIGHLY COMMENDED: John Clifford, (Ambulance car driver)

Chairman’s Award

WINNER: Karen Gardner           

The Chairman’s award recognises the most outstanding of all the nominations each year.

The Chairman’s award goes to a very special person who received a number of nominations for her dedication and hard work this year.  Caring for our staff is at the top of our agenda and Karen Gardner is a fantastic example of the actions we can take to demonstrate to our staff that we do care.

Over the past 12 months, Karen has been instrumental in the recruitment, training and implementation of over 50 Emergency Care Clinical Managers to improve leadership across the organisation.  Always with good humour and a smile on her face, Karen has single handed prepared everything from assessment materials to training courses, that she then went on to deliver, whilst also juggling the demands of changing roles and staff shortages. 

As a result, we are now far better supporting our staff with their welfare, their development and ultimately, their patient care, which she continues to drive forward. ECCMs themselves have reported how impressed they were with the training and the difference it has had to their outlook.

Karen was nominated in particular by a colleague who she supported through what she describes as ‘arguably the most difficult time of her life’.  She said, ‘Karen has a personal touch and it goes a long way.  I simply would not have been at work without her support.”

In her own words, Yvonne Ormston says of Karen, “It is tremendously comforting to know that we are putting in the systems and processes to support employee welfare, but most importantly that we are giving our staff the skills and confidence to enable them, in turn, to provide the much needed support to our staff on the frontline.”

Queen’s Medal

The Queen’s medal is issued under Royal Warrant to emergency ambulance staff who have demonstrated good conduct throughout a working period of more than 20 years.  Staff must have at least 20 years of service in frontline Emergency Care or 7 years frontline experience and 13 years in Emergency Care management to qualify. 

This year’s medals were presented by the Lord-Lieutenant of Tyne and Wear, Mrs Susan Winfield OBE on Friday 2^nd October 2015.  Those awarded were:

Iain Buglass

Barry Dixon

David Graham

Steven Hampson

Allison Home

Mark Huddleston

Neville Jones

Peter Leach

Daryen Lemmon

Sharon Monaghan

Neil Murray

Tracy Scott

Michael Simpson

Geoff Williamson

Long Service awards

20 Years’ service

Clair	Allinson
Kerry	Auld
Bob	Bell
Stephen	Carr
William	Cooper
Stephen	Cooper
Geoffrey	Craik
Annette	Croasdale
Ian	Davies
Nigel	Dawson
Barry	Dews
Darren	Fairclough
Julie	Horner
Julie	Hughes
Sydney	Hutton
Philip	Pattison
Samantha	Redfern
George	Robson
Ellen	Scott
Graeme	Scott
Andy	Sessford
Michael	Simpson
Jonathan	Soppitt
Gail	Soppitt
Paul	Tarbit
Roy	Taylor
Lee	Thompson
James	Tosney
Roger	Wansell
David	Willey

 25 years’ service

Sonya	Ashton
Fiona	Baynham
Iain	Buglass
Raymond	Burns
Paul	Bush
Christopher	Caisley
Mark	Clay
Lee	Collis
Linda	Craggs
Peter	Dixon
Andrew	Dodds
David	Fogg
Karen	Foster
David	Graham
John	Lough
Joanne	McDonnell
Michael	Midgley
Kenneth	Powell
Lynn	Pyburn
Michael	Willis

30 years’ service

Paul	Dale
Andrew	Doyle
Brian	Filer
Mark	Hodgson
Graham	Leybourne
Douglas	McDougall
Graham	Shaw
Ian	Wegg

35 years’ service

Ronald	Blacklock
Peter	Connor
John	Emmerson
Robert	Esplin
Maureen	Jordan
Michael	Lumsdon
Michael	Peacock
Edward	Scurfield
Bryan	Stephenson
Philip	Wright