Her Majesty The Queen’s Jubilee Birthday Honours List 2022 marks the incredible public service of individuals across the UK in celebration of Her Majesty’s unprecedented 70 years of service.
Two dedicated members of the NHS Ambulance Service in England, and one each from Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, have become the latest recipients of the prestigious Queen’s Ambulance Service Medal for Distinguished Service, announced in Her Majesty the Queen’s Jubilee Birthday Honours List.
The Queen’s Ambulance Service Medal (QAM) honours a very small, select group of ambulance personnel who have shown exceptional devotion to duty, outstanding ability, merit and conduct in their roles within NHS Ambulance Services, and the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives, who coordinates the nominations for England, welcomed the recognition.
Daren Mochrie QAM and AACE Chair, said:
On behalf of AACE I would like to offer my sincere congratulations to all recipients from the Ambulance Sector who have been deservedly recognised in the Jubilee Birthday Honours.
Today’s two QAM recipients for England are Cherylene Teresa Camps from East Midlands Ambulance Service and Richard Andrew Webb-Stevens of the London Ambulance Service.
Cherylene Camps
Paramedic, East Midlands Ambulance Service
Cherylene is a highly respected colleague amongst clinical staff in EMAS, always willing to offer her time and knowledge to support students and colleagues alike.
She joined the Patient Transport Service of what was Nottinghamshire Ambulance Service in April 1997 with the ultimate aim of becoming a paramedic, with aspirations early in her career to work on the Air Ambulance.
After spending her early career on PTS, she became an Ambulance Technician in August 1999 working mainly from Carlton and Arnold Stations, in the Nottinghamshire division of East Midlands Ambulance Service. After qualifying as an Ambulance Paramedic in June 2003,
Cherylene trained to be a Critical Care Paramedic on Helimed 09 and was also the first paramedic in the country to qualify with a master’s in advanced clinical Practice with a Non-Medical Prescribing qualification.
Very active in promoting clinical care – at both a local and regional level – she has worked for NICE and JRCALC in her own time, producing policies and procedures, especially around the use of collars, trauma and frailty.
Cherylene remains an inspirational clinician and leader, striving to improve the quality of services and care to patients of the East Midlands. She remains a popular and influential leader, always willing to give up her own time to the support and development of others. She represents all that is great within the NHS workforce.
Read more about Cherylene’s recognition here.
Richard Webb-Stevens
Clinical Team Manager, Motorcycle Response Unit, London Ambulance Service
Richard Webb-Stephens has been employed by the London Ambulance Service for 23 years and is now a Clinical Team Manager in the Motorcycle Response Unit (MRU). He has overcome significant challenges to achieve historic career milestones and make a lasting difference for people with hearing impairments.
Born with profound sensorineural hearing loss and uses British Sign Language at work, he became the first deaf Paramedic to work for London’s Air Ambulance as a member of the helicopter emergency medical service, responding to major trauma patients.
His bravery and dedication were demonstrated when he was first on-scene at the Westminster terror attack in 2017. In this most difficult of situations, he calmly moved down Westminster Bridge providing care for everyone he encountered – many of whom were very badly injured.
Richard became critically unwell with COVID-19 in the early days of the pandemic. After receiving life-saving care, he came back to serve our patients as soon as he was well enough.
Thanks to huge amounts of hard work in his own time, Richard has also spearheaded progress for people with hearing impairments working in emergency services. When he joined MRU, Richard found the in-helmet earpiece used by motorbike paramedics to keep in contact while driving was incompatible with his hearing aid. Determined to find a solution, Richard met with designers, audiologists and hearing aid companies. Despite being told it was impossible for the systems to work together, Richard persevered and his new design has proved to be such a success that these updated communication systems have been taken up by police forces, medical professionals and military personnel around the world.
Richard has shown exceptional dedication to his patients, not only saving many lives through his roles at the Trust but improving countless more through his campaigns to achieve positive change.
Learn more about Richard’s QAM here.
The QAM recipient for Northern Ireland is Alwyn (Craig) Wilson from the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service.
Craig Wilson
Emergency Medical Technician and Hospital Ambulance Liaison Officer, Northern Ireland Ambulance Service
Craig joined the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service in 1996 as an Ambulance Care Attendant before qualifying as an Emergency Medical Technician in 1998.
In 2019 he became a Station Supervisor in Altnagelvin Ambulance Station where he managed 100 staff of varying grades.
Although a role historically held by paramedics, Craig rose very quickly to the challenge of ensuring staff and patient safety throughout the Pandemic and is often seen at incidents alongside crews, supporting them after tough calls or coaching newer staff members to get the best from them.
He is passionate about ensuring that his staff provide the best care possible to the surrounding population and he has worked tirelessly to support them.
Described as an individual with exceptional problem solving skills, his calm, caring, industrious nature has been instrumental in guiding many through the current Covid-19 pandemic, as he continually implements systems and practices to ensure the health and wellbeing of staff and the safety of patients.
Learn more about Craig’s QAM here.
In Wales, the recipient of the QAM is Jeffrey Robert Price.
Jeff Price
Learning and Development Manager, Welsh Ambulance Service
Jeff, from Usk, Monmouthshire, began his ambulance career in 1983 after a brief period with the RAF Police, during which time he served in Northern Ireland.
He initially joined as a patient care service operative and later held roles as a paramedic and station supervisor before his journey into training began.
Jeff, who himself has a BSc Honours in Pre-Hospital Care and a Master’s in Advanced Clinical Practice, oversaw generations of new recruits enter the ambulance profession.
The father-of-three was also one of only two Welsh paramedics selected to join the Emergency Care Practitioner programme at Liverpool John Moores University.
Before his retirement, Jeff was responsible for the training of military and fire service colleagues who supported the Welsh Ambulance Service during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Get the full story about Jeff’s QAM here.
In Scotland, the QAM has been awarded to Donna Baillie, Scottish Ambulance Service.
Donna Baillie
Resilience Manager, Scottish Ambulance Service
Since joining the Service in 1995, Donna, 50, of South Queensferry, has been involved in several major incidents during her time with NRRD, including the Clutha Bar helicopter crash, the George Square bin lorry tragedy and the Glasgow Airport attack.
In 2020, she was acknowledged for her involvement in her work to provide recommendations to Scottish Ministers on tightening devolved legislation on fireworks in Scotland.
When she first joined SAS, Donna started as an ambulance care assistant in Edinburgh then became a technician a year later. She later became a paramedic at Dunfermline before joining NRRD in 2007 as a resilience officer. She has been in her current role as a manager for seven years.
Her main role revolves around preparing SAS for high-risk situations, in the event of the large-scale incident, which involves carrying out training and education, and working alongside emergency service colleagues and other partner agencies to share information.
Learn more about Donna’s recognition here.
The recipients are now entitled to place the letters ‘QAM’ after their names, on occasions when the use of such letters is customary. In accordance with custom, the medals will be formally presented at an Investiture Ceremony.
The QAM was introduced in 2012 and the number of nominations in any one year may never exceed ten and includes up to four Medals for England, up to two Medals for Wales, up to two Medals for Scotland, up to one Medal for Northern Ireland and up to one Medal for the Channel Islands.
The Association of Ambulance Chief Executives (AACE) is responsible for co-ordinating the nominations of QAMs in England, with nominations coming from within Trusts and being seconded by their Trust Chief Executives before being sent for consideration for final nomination by the AACE Board.
As well as the Queen’s Ambulance Medal, AACE also pay tribute to other significant contributors to the ambulance sector who have been recognised today.
Linda Hindle, Lead Allied Health Professional and National Engagement Lead for Police, Fire, and Ambulance Services, Office for Health Improvement and Disparities, Department for Health and Social Care, and Deputy Chief Allied Health Professions Officer (England), awarded the OBE for services to Public Health.
Sean Daniel Mullan, awarded the MBE for services to the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service (Dungannon, County Tyrone).
Geoffrey George Clark, awarded the OBE for voluntary service to St John Ambulance (Bristol).
Sheila Anne Cooper, awarded the OBE for voluntary service to St John Ambulance (Cheadle, Staffordshire).
Roy Anthony Jarratt JP, awarded the OBE for voluntary service to St John Ambulance (Solihull, West Midlands).
Stuart McLellan, Ambulance Technician, and Ross Nelson, Paramedic, awarded the MBE for their work with the Neilston & Uplawmoor CFRs (Scotland).
We offer our sincere congratulations to all recipients and thank them for their dedication and service.
