Dedicated ambulance worker awarded Queen’s Ambulance Medal
A hard-working member of the Scottish Ambulance Service who has played a key role in several high-level projects, is to receive a Queen’s Ambulance Medal for her service.
Lorraine Tough, currently Business Manager in the East region, is set to make trip to Buckingham Palace to collect her award following a long career in the service.
“I was absolutely delighted when I found out – when I opened the letter, I was speechless for about 10 minutes which, for me is a record,” she joked.
“I’ll be making the trip down with my husband David – we are very excited.”
Lorraine joined the service in 1999 as a control room assistant and has steadily worked her way up to her current role. As a project officer in 2007, working with patients, families and the Marie Curie Service, she co-designed Scotland’s first Palliative Care Ambulance – a bespoke transport service for end-of-life patients.
After self-funding post-graduate education, Lorraine played a key role in redesigning the service’s scheduled care programme, developing a new patient needs assessment and standardising working practices for Patient Transport Service staff, moving them from local hospitals to our Ambulance Control Centres, enabling patients to request transport directly from SAS. She also played a key role in introducing mobile technology to PTS vehicles and, in 2014, project managed the introduction of the Global Rostering system.
Lewis Campbell, Regional Director for the East of Scotland, said: “Lorraine is a dedicated member of the team and has contributed a huge amount to improving our systems over the years – she deserves this award and I’m looking forward to seeing pictures of her and her husband at Buckingham Palace.”
Lorraine, 47, who lives in Dundee, said: “This award is as much for the people I’ve worked with over the years. I have been very fortunate to have been given so many opportunities and nothing is ever really achieved by yourself – I work with a great bunch of hardworking people and am proud to be able to represent them.”