Coveted award for Welsh Ambulance Service
THE Welsh Ambulance Service won not one, but two prestigious awards.
The Trust’s Emergency Communication Nurse System (ECNS) project team were named the winner of the Digital and Technology Innovation Award at last week’s Advancing Healthcare Awards Wales ceremony, while Advanced Paramedic Practitioner Ed Harry was highly commended in the Allied Health Professional of the Year category.
ECNS is a new telephone consultation tool to help control room clinicians arrange the most appropriate care for 999 callers.
Ellen Edwards, Senior Practice Educator and project team member, said: “It was an absolute honour to win the Advancing Healthcare Award for Digital and Technology Innovation.
“The implementation of ECNS onto the Clinical Support Desk has been a challenge, with winter pressures, mass recruitment and a condensed timeline.
“But despite all of this, the team have worked extremely hard, and this is a testament to that.”
On the award, which was sponsored by the Welsh Government, the judging panel felt the ECNS project showed “workforce sustainability, an extremely high impact to patients and would be of worldwide interest.”
Penny Durrant, Service Manager for the Clinical Support Desk said: “I am incredibly proud of all the staff that have made a contribution to us winning this award.
“There have been significant changes to the CSD in the last 12 months with the expansion in clinician numbers, the introduction of the Mental Health Practitioners and a new way of working with the implementation of LowCode, which operates ECNS.
“This award is evidence of the dedication and hard work of CSD and its continued commitment to service improvement and ultimately patient care.”
Advanced Paramedic Practitioner Ed Harry was also awarded ‘Highly Commended’ in the Allied Health Professional of the Year category.
He said: “The only other individual who has been previously shortlisted from WAST for this award was Andy Swinburn, our Director of Paramedicine, so I’m just so grateful to even be nominated, let alone a runner-up.”
Ed started his career as a paramedic in 2009 and is now an APP who supports various projects and teams including the clinical support desk, APP training and ECNS, all while undertaking a PHD.
Kerry Robertshaw, Professional Development Lead for Advanced Practice, said: “I nominated Ed, as his enthusiasm is infectious, and he is one of those people who just goes above and beyond.
“He does so much incredible work in his own time – down to transformational projects that he is working on with the college of paramedics, to his PHD that is looking at the impact of Covid-19 on the health and wellbeing of our ambulance staff.
“He’s really keen that our voice is remembered during this difficult time.”
The Advancing Health Care Awards are held every year and is an opportunity to recognise and celebrate the important and innovative work of healthcare scientists and allied health professionals across Wales.
Editor’s Notes
For more information, please call Communications Officer Beth Eales on 07870 383209 or email Beth.Eales@wales.nhs.uk
For more information on the Advancing Healthcare Awards Wales and the winners list please visit: https://ahawards.co.uk/wales/