DSAA shortlisted for five air ambulance awards

The prestigious awards, which are sponsored by BMW Group, recognise the professionalism, excellence and dedication of the air ambulance community across the UK.

DSAA’s Patient and Family Liaison Nurses, Jo Petheram and Kirsty Caswell have been shortlisted in the Practitioner of the Year category for exceptional clinical and professional duty. Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, their work has not stopped. In fact, development of their service has continued at pace, and they now reach more than 500 patients per year. Jo and Kirsty are two incredibly inspiring women, who have both made an enormous contribution to improving patient pathways during the last 18 months.

Dr Phil Hyde is the Medical Lead for DSAA and has been shortlisted in the Doctor of the Year category. What makes Dr Hyde exceptional is what he has achieved for patients both regionally and nationally; well beyond the parochial boundaries of Dorset and Somerset.

A collaboration between DSAA, the Wales and West Acute Transport for Children Service, Bristol Children’s Hospital Trauma Team Leaders, and the Southampton Oxford Retrieval Team (SORT), has been shortlisted in the Innovation of the Year category. The collaboration has led to an expansion in advocacy for children, enabling Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) teams to formally support time-critical paediatric interhospital transport in the South-West region - a new capability has taken five years to develop and mature.

Keeping the charity running during Covid-19

The incident which sees DSAA become a finalist in the Special Incident of the Year category took place in May last year, during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. It involved members of DSAA’s critical care team; Dr Stewart McMorran, Jo Hernandez and Pete Appleby (Specialist Practitioners in Critical Care) and pilot Captain Max Hoskins. The incident demonstrated a chain of care for a patient who suffered a cardiac arrest whilst cycling along a disused railway line. It demonstrated multi-agency working and collaboration between DSAA and the police, fire and ambulance services.

Finally, the whole charity team at DSAA have been shortlisted in the Charity Team of the Year category. With a small team of staff, every single member has come together over the past 18 months, to ensure that the engine of the charity has kept going. This was a critical part of supporting the efforts of the charity’s clinical and operational crews, enabling them to maintain their 19 hour a day critical care HEMS service, but to increase their activity significantly during this period, by adding a special rota to support national Covid-19 interregional critical care transfers, as the NHS fought to spread the intensive care load across hospital trusts.

Bill Sivewright, CEO of Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance, said: “Everyone at DSAA is immensely proud of the work we do to continually improve patient outcomes through great teamwork, collaboration and innovation. We are absolutely delighted to be shortlisted in five categories this year and recognise the amazing company we are in amongst the shortlistees.”

The Air Ambulances UK Awards of Excellence will take place virtually on 3 December 2021.