Our Stars of EEAST 2024 finalists

Our finalists this year are:

Gavin Lea

Whilst splitting his time between his developing LOM and frontline paramedic roles, Gavin never wavers in his dedication to living the Trust values. As a paramedic, Gavin approached every situation and every patient with empathy, professionalism and compassion and is committed to ensuring the best outcomes for our patients.

But it doesn’t stop at our patients, Gavin’s “ability to work seamlessly within the team, even in high pressure situation, is a testament to his commitment to collective success” with a positive and respectful attitude enabling him to foster a positive working environment.

Georgia Cousins and the Lecturer Practitioner Team at Abbeygates

Georgia and the team of lecturer practitioners at Abbeygates in Bury St Edmunds are a closeknit and dedicated team of educators who always put quality patient care for our patients at the focus of everything they teach. The enthusiastic team show a genuine care and interest for each one of their students, learning about each learner on an individual basis and ensuring they are addressing their learning needs and have led the way in training cohorts of our new pre-hospital nurse practitioners.

Georgia and the team are described as “great role models, living the Trust values in a very practical way and caring about the perspectives that nurses bring to the ambulance world” and who have made our students feel that it was the right choice to have joined EEAST.

Emma Sears

In her role as legal services manager, Emma has led her team to deliver outstanding support, always going above and beyond with an unwavering commitment to the Trust’s core values. Emma is regarded by her colleagues as “an outstanding example of an individual who embodies the Trust’s values in her everyday role” who has an unparalleled commitment to quality and care.

Emma consistently delivers high quality work, supporting the Trust and colleagues with the best possible legal advice and support, with an exceptional attention to detail and thoroughness.

Adrian Magnus

Having been a volunteer with EEAST for over 20 years, Adrian is a dedicated and passionate individual who has supported the Trust in a range of volunteering roles – including as a community first responder (CFR) and a VAF representative – and is committed to supporting the Trust in providing excellent care for our patients.

Adrian has acted as an advocate for the positive impact volunteers can have within the sector and pushes to ensure the volunteer voice is heard in decision making. He is unrelenting in his support for both CFR teams across his own area of Norfolk and Waveney and beyond and within our communities by supporting at local events.

James Alden

James has taken on a mentoring role in his local Norwich community first responder (CFR) group, personally ensuring the welfare, development and mentorship of new and upcoming CFR recruits within the group. James is passionate about enabling new CFRs to learn and develop, taking them out on calls and helping them to develop confidence and clinical skills in a safe environment and always on hand to support, answer questions or debrief after a difficult call.

Whilst nurturing and mentoring new CFRs, James never stops trying to learn and improve himself, having recently completed the mental health first aider course through the Trust and having signed up to support our EEAST Heart training team. Most recently, James has taken his commitment one step further and will soon begin training in his new role as an emergency care assistant (ECA) for the Trust.

Canvey Island Community First Responders (CFRs)

The Canvey Island CFRs demonstrate an outstanding commitment to their community, having trained over 1,400 secondary school pupils, over 500 members of the public and multiple other groups in several life-saving skills including basic life support (BSL), recovery position and choking. On top of this, the group take the responsibility of managing, auditing and maintain 28 public access defibrillators and two public access bleed kits, ensuring this vital equipment is available and looked after within the area of Canvey Island.

The Canvey Island CFRs are described as having “a positive attitude to their work and a true inspiration”, with their positive reputation spreading to neighbouring CFR groups who now join them for their monthly training sessions.

Palliative and End of Life PGD team

In 2024, the palliative and end of life PGD team launched a project to equip colleagues to assess, dispense and onward refer patients who otherwise may have fallen into inappropriate or unnecessary admissions to A&E. Working alongside St Francis Hospice, the team have developed bespoke training in palliative emergency care, and are dedicated in their mission to ensure all patients receive the best care possible in their last minutes, hours or days, within the comfort of their own homes where possible.

At the time of nomination, the team - made up of advanced paramedics and trainees in both clinical and urgent care - had treated 20 patients. Of the 20 patients, 100% have been able to be treated within their own homes and have avoided admission to hospital.

Avril Meares

Avril has worked tirelessly over the past two years to develop the Hertfordshire admission avoidance response car (HAARC) scheme and pathways within the Hertfordshire and west Essex locality, working with partners to develop better patient pathways and reduce pressure on our emergency service. In pursuit of this goal, Avril also dedicates her time to delivering training sessions to local care homes, liaising with the Trust and the community service provider liaison (CLCH) to ensure optimal use of the service and best possible patient care for our elderly community.

Avril is described as “a champion for patient advocacy” who “consistently demonstrates the Trust values in all that she does”.

Jaynie Sheen

Jaynie has dedicated a huge amount of time and resources to launching the frailty line at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Kings Lynn NHS Trust (QEHKL) which is now available to frontline staff in west Norfolk. She is hugely passionate about the care our frailty patients receive and works hard to develop and implement strategies to ensure they receive the right care, at the right place, at the right time.

Jaynie’s passion and dedication to improving the care of frailty patients has led to her involvement in getting the frailty score included on the ePCR to ensure it is recorded for our frailty patients, and she personally developed and sends out weekly emails to her colleagues to provide additional support and information to better the care for these patients.

The Advanced Clinical Practitioner (ACP) Education and Management Team

The ACP Education and Management Team have spent the last few years developing our advanced clinical practitioner team at EEAST, collaborating with our university providers to deliver top quality training and education to our people. They have allowed the dream of delivering urgent care within EEAST to become reality, developing safe and supportive management structures that encourage individual and shared ambition for top clinical outcomes for our patients.

Having been described as delivering “great culture, leadership, education and support”, the team is highly sought out by potential recruits and the learning they provide is commended as being “the best of EEAST”.

Gillian Langley

Having worked as a member of the patient and public involvement team for the Trust for over 15 years, Gillian has remained as “the backbone of public involvement and engagement at EEAST” throughout periods of change. With a positive and helpful attitude, Gillian has a unique ability to pre-empt colleagues needs and is instrumental in co-ordinating Trust engagement at large scale events and single-handedly organises nearly every school visit request that the Trust receives.

Gillian is regarded highly by her colleagues and by the community engagement group (CEG) volunteers, always on hand to provide a listening ear and to support them when needed. She is described as “a fantastic member of the EEAST support family” who “plays a vital role in supporting patient care through involving the patient and public voice at EEAST”.

Louise Baines

With her unwavering commitment and dedication as a member of the patient safety team, Louise is relentless in her efforts to support our frontline colleagues and ensure our patients receive the highest standards of care. Louise has a positive and proactive approach to identifying potential safety risks, leading to significant improvements in patient outcomes and the development and implementation of safety protocols that have become benchmarks for best practice within the Trust.

Louise actively engages with policymakers and advocates for changes to ensure patient safety at a broader level and dedicates her time to raise awareness about safety issues and provide support and guidance at a local level. Her “dedication, excellence, and leadership in supporting patient care have made a tangible difference in the lives of patients and the working conditions of frontline staff”.

With thanks, this award is sponsored by MiDoS (Intuiti).

The Health and Wellbeing Team

This year, the wellbeing team officially introduced our six new welfare wagons across the east of England. Having worked collaboratively with different teams and departments across the Trust to design, organise and implement these new vehicles, they are now out and about across the Trust and are significantly improving access to mental health and wellbeing support for our people.

The wellbeing team are wholly dedicated to improving health and wellbeing throughout EEAST, whether it be day-to-day or at times of crisis, and are relentless in their drive to ensure constant care and support is available for our people no matter where they are based.

Vikki Darby

Having recently taken a leap into a new role as leadership development manager from her previous role in frontline and within our TrainEEAST commercial training team, Vikki has used her experience and passion to design and introduce the brand new ‘volunteer to career’ initiative within the Trust.

This brand-new pathway not only gave our volunteers exposure to the wide range of roles available at EEAST but gave them a clear route through the recruitment process and into formal internal training to become an emergency care assistant (ECA) at EEAST. With an initial 50% successful uptake into the ECA role from the first cohort, the pathway now provides a formal route for our volunteers to progress into a career with the Trust.

Melissa Rowlands

As a senior call handler within the emergency operations centre (EOC), Melissa’s core role is to answer emergency calls and provide the public with support and assistance in their time of need. But Melissa doesn’t stop there, using her knowledge and experience to help enhance engagement across all our EOC staff groups with the creation of the new EOC podcast – Behind the Uniform. Well outside the remit of her day-to-day role, Melissa designed the podcast to help our people get to know each other, find out more about the different roles within the Trust, and a bit more about their life outside of the Trust.

On her work setting up the podcast, Melissa is described as having “worked so hard to create this and set it up and works above and beyond to make it a positive and successful addition to staff engagement but also an amazing experience for those who take part”.

Justin Honey-Jones

As the first ambulance Trust to receive the dyslexia friendly mark by the British Dyslexia Association, Justin was the driving force behind this outstanding achievement. He constantly strives to provide excellent student care for all of our student, and his proactive attitude to providing support and making the appropriate provisions for students with neurodiversity is valued. Justin is described as “epitomising the title for EDI champion”.

Justin has used his passion to drive improvements both within the Trust and within himself, becoming the subject matter expert for dyslexia and a huge advocate for neurodiversity at EEAST.

Esther Shawe

With a keen passion and drive to champion equality and diversity within the Trust, Esther has been Chair of the Trust’s Disability Support Network since its inception five years ago. Throughout this time, Esther has gone above and beyond to develop the network, dedicating her spare time to support staff and managers with issues relating to disability.

Esther also acts as a strong support for her fellow network members, taking the time to help and develop them in their roles with patience and kindness. Her colleagues said: “She not only champions EDI herself but helps others to do so too.”

Nicky Bowbrick-Parry

Having recently stepped into the Trust’s first reasonable adjustment co-ordinator role, Nicky is described as a “proud disability advocate” who has “shown such a positive attitude and impact for disabled staff”. This year, she has been instrumental in progressing knowledge and access of reasonable adjustments, and support for staff with disabilities, within EEAST.

Previously, Nicky has held a leadership role within the Disability Support Network and consistently demonstrated a strong passion for equality and diversity in everything that she does.

With thanks, this award is sponsored by PA Consulting.

Kyriacous Kyriacou

Described in his nomination as “the most inspirational person that I have ever worked with”, Kyriacous is an inspiring leader who supports his team to grow and develop themselves.

Kyriacous has used his knowledge and experience to spearhead the new resource and planning team, which is becoming a critical function within the Trust, and is leading the way in improving processes, efficiencies and systems to help improve patient outcomes.

Laura Kitchen

Laura is approaching two years in post as a leading operations manager (LOM) in the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough locality and has used her time in the role to drive improvements and has been instrumental in setting the direction of the Peterborough mentoring and support team and raising clinical standards across her team. She has worked to implement the new NQT process across the Peterborough teams and is seen as a “critical contributor to new educational policies and pathways across the Trust”.

Laura is constantly striving to learn and improve, developing her managerial qualifications through academic studies alongside her operational and clinical work. Described as a “credible and respected member of the team”, she is showing great potential to excel in her career as a leader.

Kevin Harrod

As a developing leading operations manager (LOM) and hospital ambulance liaison officer (HALO), Kevin is already demonstrating his ability to be a supportive and innovative leader. His passion and dedication in his role are leading the way for improvements in his area, fostering a supportive and collaborative work environment that has led to improved operational effectiveness and patient care. Kevin is described as having an “ability to inspire and motivate his team” his “commitment to professional development is evident in the positive changes observed in those he has mentored. Kev’s ability to inspire and motivate his team has resulted in improved performance and morale across the board”.

Kevin’s honesty and transparency have built a foundation of trust and reliability, which has allowed him to foster strong relationships both within the Trust and with partner agencies and build a one team approach working towards a common goal to deliver outstanding patient care.

With thanks, this award is sponsored by The Ortus Group.

Ian Fazakerley

Ian ‘Faz’ Fazakerley is an inclusive and compassionate leader in mid and south Essex, who approaches every situation with a courageous and innovative approach. He is a well-respected colleague who motivates and empowers staff. His approach during the Covid-19 pandemic showed true compassion, as he tirelessly supported his team through unprecedented challenges.

Faz consistently goes above and beyond as a line manager, always making himself available to his team. He is never too busy to take a call, and he is passionate about instilling the Trust’s values and vehemently opposes any form of discrimination or bullying. Faz’s dedication, compassionate leadership, and innovative problem-solving make him an exemplary candidate for the Excellence in Leadership Award. His contributions have profoundly positively impacted staff morale, team building, wellbeing, and the operational effectiveness of the East of England Ambulance Service.

Liam Walker

Liam is a senior EOC manager for clinical governance and workforce planning and has been nominated for embodying the epitome of inclusive and compassionate leadership. One of Liam’s greatest strengths is his ability to motivate and empower others. He has a remarkable talent for recognising the unique strengths of each team member and providing them with the necessary support and resources to thrive. Under his guidance, team members are inspired to push beyond their limits and achieve remarkable outcomes.

He leads by example, consistently demonstrating integrity, accountability, and respect in all aspects of his work. Liam's dedication to upholding these values serves as a guiding light for his team, inspiring them to uphold the highest standards of professionalism and ethics.

Craig McLean

Craig is an advanced paramedic in Herts and West Essex, who has offered great leadership to the St Albans and Harpenden CFR group. He attends their monthly meetings, offers ride outs to CFRs and answers any questions they have about the Trust or patient care. He also helps with ideas for fundraising and making the CFR group better.

Craig shows great courage in his role, dealing with trauma and severely ill patients, yet always remaining calm and following best practice. He is a very compassionate leader and loves teaching and is always happy to explain things to you. He is very respectful of patients and staff. He is especially supportive of CFRs and makes them feel valued. This motivates the CFRs to continue.

Frazer Allison

Frazer has recently joined the Trust’s Subject Access Request (SAR) team in the Corporate Affairs and Performance directorate. He has already impacted the team with his knowledge, abilities, teamwork and professional attitude. His attitude towards his learning and development since he has started his new role has been very proactive, which has enabled him to already be very capable in independently dealing with the diverse and complex SAR requests received from internal and external stakeholders. He has a collaborative attitude which and has already proved to be a huge asset to the SAR team.

Frazer is always one step ahead, and thinking of how the team can improve processes moving forward for the team. He demonstrates the Trust values in all that he does and beyond.

Tom Askew

Tom is a CFR in Cambridgeshire, who first became interested in volunteering with the Trust at the very young age of 14. Such was Tom’s interest in becoming a CFR that his dad, Paul, signed up so that he could share his experiences with Tom until Tom was old enough to volunteer himself.

He joined the Huntingdon CFR team with his dad, and subsequently joined the CFR falls team, through which he regularly attends 5-6 falls patients in an 8-hour shift. Tom has now decided to apply to become an apprentice EMT for EEAST, in the hope of advancing his career in the Trust and continuing to help the community.

Stephanie Grey

Stephanie is an EMT and, since starting with the Trust, has always strived to provide the best possible care to patients. While still an apprentice recently, she attended a birth alongside a paramedic. The mother didn’t want any males in the room while she was giving birth, so Stephanie had to relay information to her colleague outside the room while delivering the baby. This was a very stressful job for all involved, but through the whole process Stephanie was able to maintain a level head and still provide the best care for mother and baby.

Stephanie is a joy to work with and she goes out of her way to give everyone she works with her care and attention, to try and get the best experience for anyone who needs support.

Driver Training Team

The Driver Training Team exemplifies effective teamwork and collaboration. Their seamless communication, mutual respect, and shared vision have fostered an environment where ideas flourish and challenges are overcome collectively. They consistently collaborate across departments, leveraging diverse skills and perspectives to achieve remarkable outcomes. Their ability to work cohesively, even under pressure, sets them apart.

The team actively supports personal and professional growth. They organise regular knowledge-sharing sessions, mentorship programs, and skill-building workshops. By investing in each team member’s development, they ensure that everyone thrives both personally and professionally. Their commitment to continuous learning is commendable, and every single team member has achieved a new qualification over the last year.

Mike Bates and the South West LOMs

The South West Local Operational Managers, led by Mike Bates, exemplify teamwork, collaboration, and unwavering commitment to excellence. Their collective effort and dedication are not only deserving of recognition but also serve as a shining example for teams across the organisation.

The commitment of the South West LOMs to personal and professional development is unparalleled. Mike Bates has championed a range of initiatives aimed at nurturing the growth of each team member. From individualised career development plans to a structured mentorship program, the team places a strong emphasis on continuous learning and development. The team consistently deliver high-quality outcomes that align with and uphold the Trust's values. Their commitment to excellence is reflected in the outstanding results they achieve across all their projects and initiatives.

Mike Bates and the South West LOMs exemplify what it means to be a cohesive, high-performing team.

Their unwavering commitment, collaborative spirit, and outstanding achievements have left an indelible mark on our organisation.

Advanced Practice (Urgent Care) Team

Since launching just over 12 months ago, the team has recorded over 10,700 patient interactions, consistently achieving a safe and effective ‘see, treat and discharge’ rate of over 75%. Alongside positive outcomes for patients, this also means reduced demand on hospital Emergency Departments (EDs). The team are also able to evidence that double-staffed ambulances (DSAs) are consistently not required for over 60% of our calls, meaning increased availability to attend high acuity patients with immediately life-threatening conditions.

Several learning events have also taken place across the last year where internal and external subject matter experts (SMEs) have provided underpinning theory and practical skills-based education and training to team members. A good example of this is the partnership with the Hospice of St Francis, to set up and launch a comprehensive Palliative and End of Life Care (PEoLC) education package and Patient Group Direction (PGD) suite of medications.

Team members work effectively together to consistently promote to local and regional colleagues and external stakeholders the benefits of advanced practice provided by the Urgent Care Team. At a regional level the team collaborate with internal (EOCs) and external partners (ICB Urgent Care Community Hubs) on the provision of the Urgent Care Desk (UCD). The control room based Advanced Practice clinician and EOC dispatcher work daily together as a single point of contact for EEAST Urgent Care to link multiple internal and external teams in the pursuit of optimal alternative patient care pathways, admission avoidance and positive patient outcomes.

With thanks, this award is sponsored by EEAST Charity.

Rhys Hibbert

Having been a member of the community engagement group (CEG) since 2018, and a volunteer for the Trust as a community first responder (CFR), Rhys has volunteered countless hours to EEAST outside of working his full-time job. Rhys is described as “a fantastic example of someone who is truly dedicated to volunteering at EEAST” and goes above and beyond to support our frontline crews and our patient and public involvement (PPI) team engaging with members of the public.

As an active member of CEG, Rhys supports the Trust with a multitude of activities including public engagement opportunities, providing feedback and insight on behalf of the patient and public, carrying out monthly IPC audits at local stations and acting as a buddy/mentor to new members of the CEG. In previous years, Rhys and his family has visited his local Luton ambulance station on Christmas morning to distribute homemade cookies to crews and during the pandemic he undertook additional training to allow him to drive our ambulances and support our crews and our patients. Rhys regularly seeks out opportunities to engage with and educate the public, arranging sessions to teach local school children about the ambulance service and basic CPR, and his efforts paid off in the most rewarding of ways when a local sixth form student who had attended one of his session put their learning into action and provided life-saving first aid to a member of the public who collapsed in a supermarket just a week later.

James Alden

As a CFR and deputy-coordinator for the Norwich CFR group, James has given a tremendous amount of his own time to support the Trust and our communities. James is described as “a calm, guiding and educating role model for new responders” who is “always willing to go that extra mile” to support new CFR recruits. James is incredible dedicated to our patients, giving them initial first care and support at times of increased pressure, and carrying with him an air of reassurance and a good sense of humour that helps him put our patients at ease.

In his pursuit to provide the support for the Trust and care for our patients, James is always keen to further improving his experience and knowledge and regularly undertakes new training including recently falls training and the mental health first aider course which now allows him to support our operational colleagues via the welfare wagon and as a CFR.

Ron Ridge and the EEAST Heart training team

Since it’s commencement in 2023, the EEAST Heart team now has eight volunteer regional leads supported by seven volunteer training supervisors and an incredible 271 volunteer EEAST Heart trainers. Together, at the time of nomination, they have trained over 5,500 members of the public in basic life support (BLS).

EEAST Heart is a free community-based education programme training members of the public in BLS led by Ron Ridge. It is self-funded through the EEAST Charity and supports all EEAST Heart county leads, CFRs and volunteers in the volunteers in the local community to deliver free awareness training to schools, businesses, community groups and others. As well as running awareness sessions, the team actively promote and fundraise to raise additional funds for EEAST Heart.

Sean Nugent

Naveed Hussain

Jemma Varela

Having received a total of seven nominations across three categories – the most nominations received for one person – we are please to award Jemma Varela, Head of Clinical Operations for Suffolk and North East Essex with this year’s Chief Executive Award.

Jemma was nominated for our Living the Values award, Experienced Leader (Excellence in Leadership award) and Rising Star of EEAST award.

Throughout all of her nominations, Jemma’s compassion and care for her colleagues consistently shone through. Jemma is a well respected and highly commended member of the Trust, who strongly advocates for our people and our patients at every opportunity.

Jemma’s colleague said: “As a leader, she is the best balance between understanding life on the road, and managing work pressures and expectations, that I have ever seen”.

Jemma is a role model for living our Trust values and for being a gold standard for management at EEAST, committed to ensuring her staff and their welfare is always being considered.