WIREDGOV

Eight teams and individuals have been honoured as health heroes last night at an awards ceremony for their life-saving work caring for the UK's armed forces and veterans.

Winners at the second annual Military and Civilian Health Partnership Awards include a Buckinghamshire team who dealt with a pneumonia outbreak on a military base in Afghanistan; a Glasgow team treating troops blinded by injuries on operations; a nurse who ran the emergency ward in Camp Bastion field hospital, and a Birmingham NHS consultant - also a Colonel in the Territorial Army - who has organised life-saving platelet donations from soldiers to injured colleagues in the field in Afghanistan.

Civilians and military personnel from Glasgow, Birmingham, Buckinghamshire, Surrey and County Durham triumphed in eight categories. Hosted by the Scottish Government on behalf of a UK-wide partnership, the awards honoured winners at home and abroad:

• Innovation in Service Development Award - Sealladh, Glasgow - The Neuro Vision Training and Rehabilitation
• Education and Training Award - Scottish Association for Mental Health (SAMH), Glasgow - A Practical Guide to Working with Veterans
• Team of the Year Award: Military and Civilian Health Partnership Award - The University Hospital Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, Birmingham - Ortho-Plastic Team
• Deployed Healthcare Award - Major Moira Kane - 202 Field Hospital (V) Birmingham, Birmingham
• Healthcare Reservist of the Year - Col Heidi Doughty - Consultant in Transfusion Medicine, NHS Blood and Transplant, Birmingham
• Health Improvement and Promotion Award - COS Health Department, RAF High Wycombe - Management of Community Acquired Pneumonia Outbreak in Kandahar
• Mental Health Award - British Army, Camberley - Trauma Risk Management Training
• Care of Veterans Award - Tees Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Trust, Bishop Auckland - Veterans' Mental Health

The awards were presented at reception this evening at Hopetoun House in Edinburgh, attended by Deputy First Minister and Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon and UK Defence Minister Kevan Jones.

Ms Sturgeon said:

"All our nominees have shown remarkable skill, dedication and commitment. Both civilian and military, their work ranges from life-saving critical care on operations in places like Afghanistan, to life-sustaining long-term physical rehab and mental health care at home.

"Thanks to these doctors, nurses and other healthcare staff, our armed forces and veterans benefit from the outstanding healthcare they deserve.

"Tonight's awards celebrate the partnerships that make this possible. It's an honour to meet these truly remarkable people and I congratulate each and every one of them."

Defence Minister Kevan Jones said:

"These are incredible people working hard to provide the very best care to our military personnel and veterans, both in the UK and on operations in Afghanistan.

"It is an honour and a privilege to meet them tonight and thank them for all they have done, and for all they continue to do, for their country."

The Military and Civilian Health Partnership Awards 2009 are hosted by the Scottish Government - one member of a partnership comprising the Ministry of Defence, the Department of Health, the Welsh Assembly Government and the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety for Northern Ireland.

The awards are open to military or civilian members of the Defence Medical Services, NHS or independent sector healthcare professionals who, either on an individual or team basis, have benefited the care of a member(s) of the Armed Forces, including veterans or their families.