TWO Welsh Ambulance Service colleagues have been recognised within the Queen’s New 12 months’s Honours Listing.
Emergency Medical Technician Nick Richards-Ozzati and Joanne Rees-Thomas, of the Non-Emergency Affected person Transport Service, have been awarded the Queen’s Ambulance Service Medal, it was introduced this night.
The medal is awarded to tell apart exemplary service from ambulance employees within the NHS and reward distinctive devotion to responsibility.
Nick, who relies in Llanelli, was impressed to hitch the ambulance service after a near-fatal street accident in 2003 close to his residence in Llangennech, Carmarthenshire.
The 12-year-old Nick suffered a damaged neck, collarbone and jaw after he was knocked from his bicycle on the A4138, in addition to a mind haemorrhage, regardless of carrying a helmet.
He was airlifted to Swansea’s Morriston Hospital earlier than being transferred to College Hospital of Wales in Cardiff, the place he spent eight days in a coma.
Nick started his profession within the ambulance service as a 999 name handler, and now works alongside paramedics on the frontline as an Emergency Medical Technician.
He additionally actively volunteers as a Neighborhood First Responder (CFR) in his native Llangennech.
Right here Nick helps the event of the CFR scheme in his personal time recruiting and coaching new staff members.
In 2016, Nick and his colleagues had been offered the Belief’s Gail Williams Award for Scientific and Operational Excellence after their efforts to efficiently resuscitate a child in cardiac arrest.
Joanne has labored for the service since 1986 and manages greater than 240 employees in her position as a Normal Supervisor for the Belief’s Non-Emergency Affected person Transport Service (NEPTS), based mostly in Swansea.
The NEPTS makes a couple of million journeys yearly, taking folks to and from routine outpatient appointments at clinics, hospitals and day centres.
In 2016, Joanne led a modernisation of the service, implementing a Belief-wide staff management construction, appraisal processes, role-based coaching and growing an apprenticeship scheme.
She launched a mentorship programme, which is aiding the creation of the following technology of supervisors, and offers assist for brand spanking new entrants.
She has additionally led enhancements in name taking and journey co-ordination.
Joanne has gained a string of awards for her work, together with a Chair’s Award at 2016’s employees awards ceremony and the Affected person Transport Providers Award ultimately 12 months’s Affiliation of Ambulance Chief Executives Excellent Service Awards.
Jason Killens, Chief Government of the Welsh Ambulance Service, mentioned: “Nick and Joanne are well-loved and highly-respected by colleagues and sufferers alike, and I’m delighted that they’ve been recognised for his or her dedication and repair.
“They’re a shining instance of colleagues who go above and past to be the best possible they are often, and I’m massively proud to say that they work for the Welsh Ambulance Service.
“On behalf of the organisation, I’d wish to congratulate Nick and Joanne on their Queen’s Ambulance Medal and lengthen a heartfelt thanks for all they do.”
Nick and Joanne had been two of 4 recipients of the Queen’s Ambulance Service Medal; Thomas Bailey, a paramedic at East Midlands Ambulance Service, and Trevor Baldwin, a supervisor at Yorkshire Ambulance Service’s Emergency Operations Centre had been the opposite colleagues recognised.
Angela Hughes, Chief Government of the Wales Air Ambulance charity, has additionally been awarded an OBE for companies to the Emergency Air Service in Wales.
Editor’s Notes
For extra data, please name Head of Communications Lois Hough on 07866887559 or electronic mail Lois.Hough@wales.nhs.uk
