Presented with awards: Staff from the Welsh Ambulance Service and Cardiff and Vale UHB

THE WELSH AMBULANCE SERVICE ha s won two NHS Wales Awards in partnership with Cardiff and Vale University Health Board. 

The first award, Working Seamlessly Across Organisations, came as a result of a successful collaboration with health, third sector and local authority agencies to reduce the demand on emergency services. The project also landed the Outstanding Contribution to Prudent Health Care Award, presented by Chief Medical Officer Dr Frank Atherton.

In an effort to improve prudent healthcare, the ongoing project focuses on frequent 999 callers and those who regularly attend unscheduled care services, including the Emergency Unit at University Hospital of Wales and the GP Out of Hours Service.

Data is then shared and collated on those who use the services involved more than five times in any given month, allowing the organisations to establish any unmet care that such patients may require. This could include increased care packages or community support via third sector and voluntary agencies.

Robin Petterson, the Welsh Ambulance Service’s Frequent Caller Lead, said: “It has been the culmination of three years of hard work and collaboration with Cardiff and Vale University Health Board and other important agencies involved with this project in seeking patient-centred solutions.

“It’s is a wonderful achievement that this work has also been acknowledged for its outstanding contribution to prudent healthcare.

“This work not only sought patient-centred solutions, but we can now see real evidence in the data that suggests that more ambulance time is being made available through this collaborative work for our other service users.”

Frequent Attendees Case Load Manager at Cardiff and Vale UHB, Anna Sussex, said: “We are incredibly proud that this project has won an NHS Wales Award.

“It is a tribute to the enthusiasm and dedication of partners across health, third sector, local authority and other agencies that we have been able to reduce demand on emergency services whilst supporting extremely vulnerable patients.”

Cabinet Secretary for Health, Well-being and Sport, Vaughan Gething, who attended the ceremony in Cardiff, said: “The winners and nominees have made changes to improve the services they provide – but I know that across the NHS, other organisations will be taking notice of what they have achieved and seeing how they too can make improvements.

“These awards allow us to celebrate fantastic care and dedicated NHS staff and their partners, making a real difference for citizens across Wales every day. I want to congratulate everyone who was nominated for their commitment to improving quality in our NHS.”

Organised by NHS Wales’ national improvement service, 1,000 Lives Improvement, the NHS Wales Awards were first established in 2008 to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the NHS and, in doing so, promote good practice across Wales.

A total of 167 entries were received from various organisations, revealing the high standard of innovative and diverse work that is transforming patient care.

To read more about all of the winners, visit www.nhswalesawards. wales.nhs.uk.