David Bull, the Head of Education at the National Ambulance Resilience Unit (NARU) collected his Queen’s Ambulance Service Medal for Distinguished Service from Her Majesty the Queen this morning (10 December 2013) at Buckingham Palace in London.
Mr Bull received the QAM for his, “tireless dedication to driving national ambulance education forward by demonstrating initiative, innovation, determination, confidence and leadership.”
The Queen’s Ambulance Service Medal (QAM) honours a very small, select group of ambulance personnel who have shown exceptional devotion to duty, outstanding ability, merit and conduct in their roles within NHS Ambulance Services. It was introduced in 2012 and was warmly welcomed by ambulance services because it ensures that the dedication of ambulance staff has the same level of Royal recognition as other members of the emergency services.
Mr Bull, 44, lives in Sussex with his family and says: “Arriving at Buckingham Palace I was quite nervous about meeting Her Majesty but it all went very smoothly in the end. I am obviously delighted to have been awarded this honour and as I have said before, I can only thank all those who have supported me in my career to date, especially my friends and family, and of course all those involved in multi-agency training in the emergency services.”
Following 14 years in the Army, Mr Bull joined the former Sussex Ambulance Service in 2000, worked as a Paramedic in Brighton and was then seconded to work on delivering national multi-agency command training for the former Ambulance Service Association (ASA). He was then asked to lead the development of training and education for the national Hazardous Area Response Team (HART) programme on behalf of the Department of Health. He is now Head of Education & Training at NARU.
Although Mr Bull was originally suggested for the QAM anonymously by a colleague, it was actually the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives (AACE) that was responsible for nominating David as a recipient of the award in England, taking his citation into account against other nominees.
The citation for Mr Bull included reference to the excellent relationships he has built up with colleagues in multi-agency partners, Government Departments and in health and ambulance services abroad. In addition many letters of support were received in support of Mr Bull’s citation from a broad range of people with whom he has worked with over the years.
The citation noted: “David has overcome many obstacles to develop high quality education, both personal and professional, going not just the extra mile but often far beyond, his tireless dedication to deliver exceptionally high standards has resulted in being away from home for significant periods, often spending four or five nights away each week for the past five years. Despite this, David has sustained the high tempo and has genuinely driven national ambulance education forward by demonstrating initiative, innovation, determination, confidence and leadership.”