Ambulance services are being asked to provide nominations for the next round of recipients of the prestigious Queen’s Ambulance Service Medal for Distinguished Service (QAM) award, to be announced in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list 2016.
The 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.
The award was introduced in 2012 and underlines how the dedication of ambulance staff now has the same level of Royal recognition as other members of the emergency services. The number of nominations for a QAM in any one year may never exceed ten and includes up to four Medals for England, up to two Medals for Wales, up to two Medals for Scotland, up to one Medal for Northern Ireland and up to one Medal for the Channel Islands.
The Association of Ambulance Chief Executives (AACE) is responsible for co-ordinating the nominations of QAMs in England, with nominations coming from within Trusts and being seconded by their Trust Chief Executives before being sent for consideration for final nomination by an AACE CEO’s meeting.
New recipients are entitled to place the letters ‘QAM’ after their names, on occasions when the use of such letters is customary. In accordance with custom, the medals are formally presented at an Investiture Ceremony, having been announced in either the Queen’s Birthday Honours List (June) or the New Year’s Honours List.
Martin Flaherty OBE, Managing Director of the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives (AACE) says:
The Queen’s Ambulance Medal serves to formally recognise the hard work and dedication of a very select band of ambulance professionals at the highest level, putting them on a par with other emergency services workers. We are always immensely proud of all QAM recipients.”
Guidance is here and nominations should be made on this form and returned to steve.irving@aace.org.uk as soon as possible and no later than 28 August 2015.
Nominations received after this date will not be considered for this round of honours.