The impressive entry, made by the Trust’s Research Facilitator, Maria Robinson, has been successful in reaching the final within the ‘Clinical Research Impact’ category sponsored by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). She, along with a number of colleagues from the team, will join other finalists in London on 12 October to give a presentation in support of their entry, before the winners are announced at a ceremony on 23 November. 

The nomination, entitled, ‘developing and embedding a research culture in SWASFT’ focuses on the changes, benefits, impacts and results of working collectively as an organisation to push research up the corporate agenda and use the studies and outcomes to the mutual benefit of patients and staff. 

SWASFT’s research team has been involved in a number of ground-breaking projects in recent years and has moved from a position of not being involved in research projects at all, to being the ambulance service recognised as ‘most involved in research’ in the Guardian League Table for 2015/16. 

They have seen further successes at the 999 EMS Research Forum this year, winning the award for the highest quality research, and the best poster.  Last year the Trust was awarded the forum’s prize for ‘Best Use of Routine Data’ and in 2014 won the award for the research most likely to influence practice. This means over the last three years SWASFT has won every prize given by this prestigious pre-hospital research forum. Recent achievements also include SWASFT becoming the first ambulance service to sponsor an NIHR Health Technology Assessment (HTA) funded trial. 

Sarah Black, who heads up the Research and Development function at SWASFT, is delighted that the hard work of the team has been formally recognised and said: “The results of research studies are invaluable and shape our daily lives. This is particularly true of the healthcare sector, and the studies we’re involved with have the potential to make a really positive difference to patients. We are seeing many benefits from our continued investment in research and I would like to acknowledge the hard work of the team, which has led to our nomination, we are looking forward to further showcasing our achievements during October’s presentation, and attending the ceremony in November this year.”