Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance (DSAA) is in line for accolades.

It has been shortlisted in not one, not two, but five categories at this year’s Air Ambulances UK Awards of Excellence. The prestigious awards, which are sponsored by BMW Group, recognise the professionalism, excellence and dedication of the air ambulance community across the UK.

DSAA’s patient and family liaison nurses, Jo Petheram and Kirsty Caswell have been shortlisted in the Practitioner of the Year category for exceptional clinical and professional duty. Both are critical care practitioners, who together have created, developed and deliver DSAA’s Patient and Family Liaison service. Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, their work has not stopped. In fact, development of their service has continued at pace and they now reach more than 500 patients per year.

Dr Phil Hyde, the medical lead for DSAA and has been shortlisted in the Doctor of the Year category.

Collaboration between DSAA, the Wales and West Acute Transport for Children Service (WATCh), Bristol Children’s Hospital Trauma Team Leaders (BCHTTL) and the Southampton Oxford Retrieval Team (SORT), has been shortlisted in the Innovation of the Year category. The collaboration has led to an expansion in advocacy for children, enabling Helicopter Emergency Medical Service teams to formally support time-critical paediatric inter-hospital transport in the South West region.

The incident which sees DSAA become a finalist in the Special Incident of the Year category took place in May last year, during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. It involved members of DSAA’s critical care team; Dr Stewart McMorran, Jo Hernandez and Pete Appleby (specialist practitioners in critical care) and pilot Captain Max Hoskins. The incident demonstrated an astonishing chain of care in order to achieve a wonderful outcome for a patient who suffered a cardiac arrest whilst cycling along a disused railway line.

Finally, the whole charity team at DSAA have been shortlisted in the Charity Team of the Year category. With a small team of staff, every single member has come together over the past 18 months with immense dedication, commitment and diversity, to ensure that the engine of the charity has kept going.

Bill Sivewright, CEO of Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance said: “Everyone at Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance is immensely proud of the work we do to continually improve patient outcomes through great teamwork, collaboration and innovation.”