Sue Norman, an advanced clinical practitioner working in the urgent community response team, has been shortlisted for a NHS England Chief Allied Health Professions Officer Award.
Nominated in the Greener AHP category – which recognises services improvements which improve healthcare’s environmental impact, Sue has been leading on the implementation of the electric urgent response van and instrumental in sourcing the vehicle able to reduce our omissions and contribution to air pollution which also impact health. The electric van is used for staff to visit patients who may otherwise have been sent to hospital, to treat them at home and ensure they have all the equipment and support they need to remain at home.
Over the last 12 months of this service, 95% of patients were being reached in 0-2 hours. A total of 635 patients were seen, of which 82% remained at home meaning the environmental impact of 521 emergency ambulance journeys were avoided alongside avoiding the need for other community services to be involved.
Sue is delighted to have been nominated and said “Leading a service improvement project has been such a hugely rewarding experience. I have been on an incredible journey to become an Advanced Clinical practitioner which has enabled me to have the support to successfully lead this project. Our Urgent Response Van has made a huge difference to the way our service runs and improved the efficiency with which we can reach our patients within our local community, whilst reducing our carbon footprint.
I am very proud of the work the team has done to enable this project to be successful, and I am very grateful for the recognition of this through being shortlisted for this award. “