29th October 2025
The Advancing Healthcare Awards Northern Ireland ceremony was held on 23 October 2025 at the Stormont Hotel, Belfast. The ceremony was attended by over 300 guests and hosted by Tara Mills, BBC Northern Ireland presenter. The guest speaker was Mike Nesbitt, Minister of Health, Northern Ireland.
We are delighted and very proud that the overall winner of the Advancing Healthcare Awards Northern Ireland 2025 and winner of the Award for Creative and Innovative Practice is Orla Morrow, Clinical Practice Lead (Acute Care) and team at the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service for Narrowing the search – Maternity and Paediatric equipment within the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service.
The judges chose this as the overall winner because the team demonstrated excellence in all areas; their project is highly scalable and cost effective, and not only had an impressive impact on patient safety and care, but also on staff health and wellbeing as well.
Also at the event, Des Flannagan, Head of Safeguarding at NIAS, and Ciara McClements, Connected Community Hub Manager at BHSCT, were recognised as finalists for the “Partnership Working in Public Health Award”, in recognition of their collaborative work in developing initiatives to support the welfare needs of ambulance service patients requiring social care assistance. Their efforts have helped to prevent unnecessary hospital admissions and reduce recurring calls to the ambulance service.
This achievement reflects the continued improvement and substantial investment in safeguarding services within NIAS over the past five years, demonstrating a strong commitment to enhancing patient care and interagency collaboration.
Huge congratulations to both Orla and Des