Welsh Ambulance Service colleagues praised for long service
THE Welsh Ambulance Service celebrated its long-serving staff and volunteers at an awards ceremony in North Wales yesterday.
Colleagues with 20, 30, 40 and 50 years of service were presented with medals at Deganwy’s Quay Hotel in an event to recognise length of service.
Colleagues with 20 years in the Emergency Medical Service were also presented with a Long Service and Good Conduct Medal by the King’s representative in Clwyd, High Sheriff Kate Hill-Trevor.
Among the recipients at yesterday’s event was Urgent Care Assistant Trefor Lloyd Jones from Caernarfon, who was recognised for a half-century of service.
Trefor joined the NHS in 1972 aged 17, starting his career as a filing clerk at the Caernarfonshire and Anglesey (C&A) Hospital in Bangor.
He worked his way up to clerical officer before joining Gwynedd Ambulance Service in 1977.
Trefor said: “There was no such thing as a paramedic back then – I joined as an ‘ambulance man’ and that’s what we all were.
“I did two weeks of training at the ambulance headquarters in Bodfan at Eryri Hospital, then six weeks at Wrenbury Hall in Crewe, and then I was qualified.
“Back then, we did both emergencies and non-emergencies, so taking people to clinic appointments.
“There was also a standby shift, which meant the duty ambulance driver would take the vehicle home and he’d get a call on his landline telephone from control if there was an emergency in the night.”
Later qualifying as an Emergency Medical Technician, Trefor says a lot has changed in the last 50 years.
“In the 1970s, we were essentially just providing basic life support, and not a lot else,” he said.
“We didn’t have the skills or equipment back then – in fact, the only equipment we had was a stretcher, splints, blankets and a ‘minuteman’ to help with resuscitation.
“Our ‘ambulance’ was a Ford Transit with two stretchers in the back and a small blue light on the roof.
“The standard of care has improved fantastically, but we’ve had no choice but to evolve because demand on the service has also increased drastically.
“There’d be some nights where you wouldn’t turn the wheel of the ambulance, but these days, it can be job after job after job.”
Trefor’s wife Julie recalls: “In the 80s, I remember getting calls at home from the control room to say ‘Trefor’s had a dirty job – please could you have a bath ready?’
“I’d have to run a hot bath and make sure the washer was empty so his dirty clothes could go straight in.
“I’d also have a bowl of hot water and Savlon antiseptic by the back door for his stethoscope to go in and any loose change from his pocket.
“This was at the time of the meningitis outbreak, but there was no such thing then as PPE.
“The ambulance service also gave us six vouchers a year for Johnson Cleaners, so we could take Trefor’s uniform to be laundered and dry cleaned.”
Trefor added: “If we had a ‘dirty’ job, we’d have to mix two chemicals together in a bowl and leave it in the back of the ambulance with the doors locked for it to have a reaction and disinfect everything.”
Trefor, 68, whose nickname locally is ‘Trefor Ambulance’, is these days working part-time as an Urgent Care Assistant.
He said: “Caernarfon is such a small community that everyone knows everyone.
“Often, you’ll have people coming up to you to say ‘You helped my mam’ or ‘You helped my auntie.’
“One time, a woman came up to me and said ‘You see that boy there – you helped to deliver him.’
“He must have been about 11-years-old but I did remember it – it’s a nice feeling.”
Trefor, a father-of-four and a grandfather-of-five, has even inspired his two sons to follow in his footsteps.
His eldest son Gareth, 44, works for the Royal Air Force in Bedford and is also a Community First Responder for the East of England Ambulance Service.
His youngest son Dewi, 33, is a paramedic at the Welsh Ambulance Service in Bargoed, who next week takes up a new role as a Cymru High Acuity Response Unit Paramedic.
Trefor added: “Of the 27 colleagues who did their training back in 1977, I’m the last one standing, but I enjoy it as much now as I did on day one.”
Almost 200 colleagues across the Trust have been invited to receive a Long Service Award this year.
Patient-facing colleagues at yesterday’s event included Paramedics, Emergency Medical Technicians, Call Handlers, Allocators and Operations Managers, while a Practice Educator, Project Support Officer and a Safeguarding Specialist were among the corporate colleagues.
Recipients came from all four corners of North Wales, including Holyhead, Bangor, Llanfairfechan, Rhyl, St Asaph, Wrexham, Ruthin, Dolgellau and Dobshill, Flintshire.
Chief Executive Jason Killens said: “Working for the ambulance service is not just any job – it’s a job that makes a real difference.
“Often when people are at their lowest ebb, our staff are the people to whom they turn, and it takes remarkable people to do the remarkable job they do, day in, day out.
“It’s mindboggling to think that all the Long Service Awards we presented yesterday amount to more than 600 years of service.”
Chair Colin Dennis added: “The reason the Welsh Ambulance Service is what it is rests with its people who work tirelessly, 24/7, to serve the people of Wales.
“All our staff and volunteers play a part in saving lives and I am extremely proud of their achievements.
“Congratulations to all of our recipients.”
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For more information, please email Head of Communications Lois.Hough@wales.nhs.uk or call Lois on 07866887559.