Nominations open for ambulance staff who go ‘beyond the call of duty’
Members of the public are being invited to nominate staff from North East Ambulance Service who have gone ‘beyond the call of duty’.
Every year, North East Ambulance Service (NEAS) holds an awards ceremony to recognise outstanding contributions of its employees and volunteers who embody the heart of the Trust’s vision – ‘Unmatched quality of care for every life we touch’ - and demonstrate its core values of pride; excellence and innovation; responsibility and accountability; compassion; respect and making a difference every day.
Now in its fifth year, the Beyond the Call of Duty Awards, which is this year sponsored by Newcastle law firm Ward Hadaway, allow the Trust the opportunity to publicly recognise and celebrate the achievements of its more than 2,500 staff.
The awards gala evening, on Friday, 21 October, will see up to 300 people gather at Newcastle Racecourse to celebrate the achievements of staff.
Twelve categories recognise achievements of NEAS staff over the past twelve months, with an additional award made by NEAS Chairman Ashley Winter for the most outstanding achievement of all of the nominations.
The evening is also a chance to celebrate the long service of staff who have given 20, 25, 30, 35 and 40 years to the service.
Staff can be nominated for an award by their colleagues, line managers, patients or members of the public – and now NEAS is calling on members of the public to start making their nominations.
Nominations can be made from now until 31 July.
To make a nomination, please visit https://www.neas.nhs.uk/staff-awards
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."
Ashley Winter, Chairman, said: “I am in absolute awe of all the winners and nominees and long service awards. Our Beyond the Call of Duty Awards therefore provide me, and the rest of the Trust board, with the opportunity to say thank you.
“For our staff, working for the ambulance service is more than just a job. No matter what part of the NEAS team you’re in, we’re all here for the same reason – our patients. For that reason, the public nomination category is arguably one of the most important categories of the night as the nominees for this award are voted for by the people we serve, the reason we’re here.
“We regularly receive appreciations from the public, in fact we had 572 appreciations from patients last year, and I would urge anyone looking to send in a thank you to us to also think about making a nomination at the same time.”
Nicola Richardson, Partner in the Healthcare team at law firm Ward Hadaway, said: “From our long-standing work with North East Ambulance NHS Foundation Trust we know what a dedicated and skilled workforce they have so we are delighted to be able to support the NEAS staff awards.
“I am sure that these awards will highlight the outstanding work their staff do every day of the year in caring for the people of the North East when they need it most.”
Last year’s Public Nomination Award went to Paramedic Colin Davison, based in Blucher.
The nomination, entitled ‘AMAZING bloke’, came from a patient who safely delivered her baby at home thanks to Colin and his team mate.
Highly commended was Emergency Care Clinical Manager Paul Smith, based in Durham, who stopped to help a motorcyclist on his day off.
The other categories are:
- Outstanding Emergency Care
- Outstanding Patient Transport Services
- Outstanding Contact Centre
- Outstanding Support Services
- Mentor of the Year
- Student of the Year
- Innovation and Change
- Team of the Year
- Outstanding Senior Manager or Leader
- Volunteer of the Year
- Unsung Hero
The nomination which is deemed to be the best of all the categories is awarded the top award for the night, the Chairman’s Award.
ENDS
Notes to editors
Notes to editors:
As well as the nomination form, https://www.neas.nhs.uk/staff-awards also contains more information about the categories as well as a link to information about last year’s winners.
This year, we will be inviting members of the press to the awards. If you are interested in coming along and would like to reserve your seat, please call the NEAS press office on 0191 430 2099.
About NEAS:
North East Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (NEAS) covers 3,200 square miles across the North East region.
It employs more than 2,500 staff and serves a population of 2.7 million people by handling all NHS 111 and 999 calls for the region, operating patient transport and ambulance response services, delivering training for communities and commercial audiences and providing medical support cover at events.
In 2015/16 the service answered 1.160 million emergency 999 and NHS 111 calls, responded to 295,855 incidents that resulted in a patient being taken to hospital, treated and discharged, 19,949 patients with telephone advice and treated and discharged 85,021 patients at home. In the same year, emergency care crews reached 132,948 Red incidents within the national target of 8 minutes.