The long service and achievements of South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SECAmb) staff and volunteers have been recognised at the second of the Trust’s annual awards ceremonies.
The awards, primarily covering Surrey, took place at Denbies Wine Estate in Dorking on the evening of Thursday 14 October.
Medals and awards for long service were presented in person while commendation award winners joined the celebrations virtually.
Attendees were also joined virtually by The Queen’s representative, Deputy Lieutenant of Surrey, Michael Hayman, as Queen’s Medals for Long Service and Good Conduct were presented. Awards for 20, 30 and a staggering 40 years NHS service were also presented to individuals.
Chief Executive Commendations were presented across a number of categories including Exceeding Expectations, Clinical Excellence and Quality Improvement, Demonstrating Compassion and Respect, Community or Voluntary Service and, for the first time, a category for COVID-19 Response.
SECAmb’s Consultant Midwife, Dawn Kerslake was named as SECAmb’s Employee of the Year for transforming the Trust’s approach to obstetric emergencies since joining SECAmb in 2018.
Team of the Year was awarded to all of the Trust’s Community First Responders, SECAmb’s volunteer chaplains and its Community Resilience Team. Together, from the start of the pandemic, they have not allowed obstacles to hamper their efforts to support the Trust. Bringing forward a variety of ideas and approaches, they provided, and continue to provide, morale-boosting support to the Trust’s frontline staff.
Full details of all long service and award winners can be found below.
SECAmb Chief Executive Philip Astle said: “It is always incredibly humbling to attend and present awards to so many deserving members of staff and volunteers. It is an honour to celebrate the long service, dedication and commitment shown by so many people over so many years.
“Congratulations to all of our commendation winners. These award winners represent just a few examples of the amazing work which goes on day-in, day-out throughout SECAmb, of which I am extremely proud.
“I would like to thank everyone involved with SECAmb for their hard work at what continues to be a very challenging time.”
The third and final awards ceremony takes place later this week in Sussex.
Queen’s Medal for Long Service and Good Conduct
Mark Booker, Clinical Supervisor, West EOC, Crawley
Andrew Burch, Technician, Gatwick
Karen Burley, Technician, Chertsey
Troy Cabrera, Technician, Worthing
Angela Carteroulis, Paramedic, Chertsey
Faye Cooke, Technician, Chertsey
David Davis, Paramedic, Horsham
Ian Eldridge, Contingency Planning and Resilience Manager, Bexhill
Anthony Ellis, retired Technician, Gatwick
Joe Garcia, retired former Executive Director of Operations
Darren Garfoot, Paramedic Practitioner, Chertsey
Timothy Gray, Operations Manager, Worthing
Sarah Hale, Newly Qualified Paramedic, Redhill
Christopher Hart, Operational Team Leader, Gatwick
Adam Heywood, Critical Care Paramedic, KSS Air Ambulance
Lesley Jamieson, Operational Team Leader, Guildford
Anna Jones, Technician, Tangmere
Malcolm Legg, Community Resilience Lead, Tangmere
Melanie Lewis, Paramedic Practitioner, Guildford
Charlotte Milford, Paramedic, Chertsey
Mark Newton, Operational Team Leader, Guildford
Steve Nicholls, Paramedic, Worthing
Darren Oram, Paramedic, Farnborough
Christian Powell, Technician, Haslemere
David Priest, Critical Care Paramedic, Brighton
Julian Quin, HART Team Leader, Gatwick
Simon Rosenberg, Operational Team Leader, Ashford
Paula Seal, Technician, Guildford
Alison Smith, Paramedic, Redhill
Nicola Sykes, Operational Team Leader, Redhill
Mark Wheeler, Technician, Chertsey
Jenny Young, Paramedic, Gatwick
Mark Young, Paramedic Practitioner, Gatwick
10 Year’s Volunteer Service
Stephen Hale, CFR, Rushmoor and Surrey Heath
David Steele, CFR, Oxted
David Brown, CFR, Witterings
Ian Lefevre, CFR, Yateley
Susan Shaw, CFR, Woking
20 Years’ NHS Service
Penny Green, Operating Unit Manager, West EOC, Crawley
Karen Coats, Advanced Ambulance Technician, Brighton
Stuart Grierson, Head of Business Intelligence, SECAmb HQ Crawley
Karen Lavender, HR Policy and Employee Relations Manager, SECAmb HQ Crawley
30 Years’ NHS Service
Chris Attfield, Paramedic, Tangmere
Tim Fellows, retired Paramedic, Brighton
Chris Firman, Clinical Scheduling Officer, SECAmb HQ Crawley
Mark Glanville, Fleet Driver/Assistant Technician
Jerry Hillman-Smith, Production Manager, Burgess Hill
Kooberin Naidoo – Emergency Care Support Worker, Redhill and Gatwick
Lisa Stansfield, Advanced Ambulance Technician, Chertsey
Nigel Willmont-Coles, Operational Team Leader, Guildford
40 Years’ NHS Service
Ian Evans, Ambulance Technician, Chertsey
John Laver, Paramedic, Eastbourne
Trevor Freeman, Operational Team Leader, Redhill
Russell Kempton, (retired) Operational Support Manager, Surrey
Chief Executive Commendations
Exceeding Expectations:
Kerry Moody – For her commitment and contribution to the Learning and Organisational Development team. Kerry ensures the smooth running of the team, often takes on additional work and has real attentional to detail.
Helen Thornton and Carol Jupp – recognised for their dedication to their work with the Trust’s Datix reporting system which has ensured the system no enables focus on patient safety.
Sam Martin, Matt Ansell, James Armstrong, John Kaffenberger, Vickey Johnson, Helen Sherriff, Peter Vallance, Josie Greenham, Amar Mashru (KSS Air Ambulance Doctor) and Sam Taylor (KSS Air Ambulance Critical Care Paramedic) – For the way in which, as a team, they handled a particularly challenging and hazardous incident. In an attempt to take his own life, a man had suffered severe burns in a car fire, which sadly proved fatal.
David Dixon – For the improvement shown by him over the past year during despite struggling with his health and family commitments. His transformation led David to take on extra responsibilities and he is now a Senior Emergency Medical Advisor.
COVID-19 Response:
Gowry Pajany – For the support she has provided the Trust’s COVID-19 vaccination programme, despite family tragedies and caring for a young family.
Clinical Excellence and Quality Improvement:
Madeline Harris and Christine Cannon – For their expertise and clinical skill when attending to a seriously injured man who had attempted suicide.
Demonstrating Compassion and Respect:
Helen Adamson-Ballad and Michael Penn – For the efforts they made to ensure a Nepalese woman, who spoke very little English and was in the country to attend their son’s funeral after his died of COVID-19, was able to see her husband in hospital before he too died of the virus.
Kim Coveney and Kay Towsey – For the compassion they displayed to help four young children have a sweet, lasting memory of their terminally-ill mother by ensuring they could complete some hand painting they had planned to do.
Richard Orme – For his commitment as standard bearer for SECAmb, which has seen provide a reassuring presence at service funerals for many years and a role he has stepped up to fulfil on too many occasions in recent months.
Melanie Lewis – For the support she provided a family when she attended a cardiac arrest toward the end of a 12-hour shift. Melanie’s reassuring and compassionate approach to helping two young children was highlighted by a student paramedic who she was mentoring and on whom she left a lasting and deep impression.
Community or Voluntary Service:
Geoff Kempster, Caterham Community First Responder Team, – For his dedication in attending close to 500 calls over 18 months and commitment to ensure a defibrillator was installed in his local area.
Employee of the Year
Dawn Kerslake, Consultant Midwife – named as SECAmb’s Employee of the Year for transforming the Trust’s approach to obstetric emergencies since joining SECAmb in 2018.
Team of the Year:
Awarded to all of the Trust’s Community First Responders, SECAmb’s volunteer chaplains and its Community Resilience Team. Together, from the start of the pandemic, they have not allowed obstacles to hamper their efforts to support the Trust. Bringing forward a variety of ideas and approaches, they provided and continue to provide morale-boosting support to the Trust’s frontline staff.