Friday 25 February 2022
A London Ambulance Service paramedic based in Sutton has received a rare award from the Queen
Jason Morris was presented with the Queen’s Ambulance Medal to mark 22 years of service.
He was handed the award by Princess Anne, as Her Majesty has Covid, at Windsor Castle on Tuesday.
Jason has championed many initiatives including the development of the ‘Red Bag’ scheme for care home residents in Sutton.
The initiative consists of a pre-packed bag containing a list of medical and personal information, which can be given to ambulance crews.
The scheme was rolled out nationally in 2018.
Chief Executive of London
Ambulance Service, Daniel Elkeles, said: “It is wonderful Jason has been recognised
in this way.
“Jason has dedicated his
career to improving patient care, and empowering and supporting our staff and
volunteers. Jason’s achievements just go to show what can be possible when you
work for the ambulance service, and is testament to just how talented and
caring our staff and volunteers are.”
Ever since Jason was a
child he has always wanted to help others. Growing up in New Zealand he took
part in rescue training for the civil defence, and at aged 19 he moved to
England and became a St John Ambulance volunteer. This was where he met a
member of the London Ambulance Service who encouraged him to pursue a career as
a paramedic.
Jason has championed many
initiatives in the ambulance service, including the development of a ‘Red Bag’
scheme for care home residents in Sutton. The initiative
consists of a pre-packed bag containing a list of medical and personal
information, which can be given to ambulance crews and hospital staff so
clinicians have all the information needed to treat the patient. It has helped
reduce the amount of unnecessary time patients have had to stay in hospital
and, due to its success, in 2018 it was rolled out nationally.
Since 2009, Jason has also
worked with London’s Air Ambulance and is currently one of its longest serving
flight paramedics. He takes a leading role in training and developing the team
of Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) doctors and paramedics.
He has also spearheaded
improvements in London Ambulance Service’s 999 and 111 control rooms by
harnessing new technology. This includes introducing GoodSAM Instant-on-Scene,
this technology allows clinicians the ability to remotely access a caller’s
smartphone camera to quickly understand the patient’s injuries and needs,
helping to decide what resources or treatment is needed and provide critical
lifesaving advice before the arrival of ambulance crews. Since being introduced
in 2019, it has been used over 80,000 times and helped save countless lives.
Most recently, and during
the COVID-19 response, Jason lived out of a hotel, away from his family and
devoted hours protecting London Ambulance Service staff, volunteers and
patients from the virus, by ensuring medics had the necessary personal
protective equipment (PPE) and found solutions when challenges arose.
On receiving his Queen’s
Ambulance Medal, Jason said: “It’s such an honour to be recognised in this way,
and it really has been the highlight of my career.
“To be nominated by my
colleagues makes receiving this award even more special. From my point of view
I’m just part of the team and it wouldn’t be possible for me to do my job every
day without the support of everyone else around me.
“This is my dream job. I
love what I do and I wouldn’t ever want to do anything else.”
posted by Radio Jackie News Team @ 7:13 am