Military and civilian health staff honoured
30 Oct 09
Military and civilian health practitioners were honoured at the Military and Civilian Health Partnership Awards last night for their life-saving work caring for the UK's armed forces and veterans.
A team from Sealladh in Glasgow, winners of the award for Innovation and Service Development for their work in the field of neuro vision training and rehabilitation
[Picture: Mark Owens, Crown Copyright/MOD 2009]
Winners included a team who dealt with a pneumonia outbreak on a military base in Afghanistan; a team treating troops blinded by injuries on operations; a nurse who ran the emergency ward in Camp Bastion field hospital, and a NHS consultant, also a colonel in the Territorial Army, who has organised life-saving platelet donations from soldiers to injured colleagues in the field in Afghanistan.
The second annual Military and Civilian Health Partnership Awards was held yesterday, Thursday 29 October 2009 at Hopetoun House in Edinburgh.
Hosted by the Scottish Government on behalf of a UK-wide partnership, the black tie reception was attended by the Under Secretary of State for Defence, Kevan Jones, and the Scottish Deputy First Minister and Health Secretary, Nicola Sturgeon.
The awards are open to military or civilian members of the Defence Medical Services, NHS or independent sector healthcare professionals who, either on an individual or team basis, have benefited the care of members of the Armed Forces, including veterans or their families.
There were eight categories of awards and winners:
• Education and Training Award – Scottish Association for Mental Health (SAMH), Glasgow – A Practical Guide to Working with Veterans
• Team of the Year Award: Military and Civilian Health Partnership Award – The University Hospital Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, Birmingham – Ortho-Plastic Team
Mental Health award winners from the British Army, Camberley, Trauma Risk Management (TRiM) training team. Left to right: Warrant Officer Class 2 (WO2) Philip O'Conner, WO2 Ritchie Harris, Major Richard Dorney MBE, WO2 Allan Lee, and WO2 Mark Davies
[Picture: Mark Owens, Crown Copyright/MOD 2009]
• Deployed Healthcare Award – Major Moira Kane – 202 Field Hospital (V) Birmingham, Birmingham
• Healthcare Reservist of the Year – Colonel Heidi Doughty – Consultant in Transfusion Medicine, NHS Blood and Transplant, Birmingham
• Health Improvement and Promotion Award – COS Health Department, RAF High Wycombe – Management of Community Acquired Pneumonia Outbreak in Kandahar
• Mental Health Award – British Army, Camberley – Trauma Risk Management Training
• Care of Veterans Award – Tees Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Trust, Bishop Auckland – Veterans' Mental Health
• Innovation in Service Development Award – Sealladh, Glasgow – Neuro Vision Training and Rehabilitation programme.
Mr Jones said:
"These are incredible people working hard to provide the very best care to our military personnel and veterans, both in the UK and on operations in Afghanistan.
Healthcare Reservist of the Year, Colonel Heidi Doughty of NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT), Birmingham, receives her award
[Picture: Mark Owens, Crown Copyright/MOD 2009]
"It is an honour and a privilege to meet them tonight and thank them for all they have done, and for all they continue to do, for their country."
Ms Sturgeon said:
"All our nominees have shown remarkable skill, dedication and commitment. Both civilian and military, their work ranges from life-saving critical care on operations in places like Afghanistan, to life-sustaining long-term physical rehab and mental health care at home.
"Thanks to these doctors, nurses and other healthcare staff, our armed forces and veterans benefit from the outstanding healthcare they deserve.
"Tonight's awards celebrate the partnerships that make this possible. It's an honour to meet these truly remarkable people and I congratulate each and every one of them."