2026 New Year Honours List

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The FPHC is delighted to send congratulations to 3 colleagues who have made highly significant contributions to pre-hospital care recognised in the New Year Honours List. 

Professor Ian Greaves was awarded the OBE for services to pre-hospital care. Ian has made exceptional and sustained contributions to the development of military and civilian pre-hospital care in the UK and internationally throughout his 30-year career. He is a prolific author and wrote 'Pre-Hospital Medicine' in cooperation with the FPHC Patron Professor Sir Keith Porter as well as the 'Oxford Handbook of Pre-Hospital Care' and the 'Oxford Manual of Major Incident Management' amongst numerous publications. Other contributions include him being a pivotal figure in the creation of the FPHC's Diploma on Major Incident Management and he was a co-founder and previous Chair of the educational charity Trauma Care which has promoted best clinical practice in trauma management. Ian also led the military emergency medicine cadre from 2008 - 2014 during combat operation overseas.  

The King's Ambulance Medal (KAM) is a prestigious award and no more than 10 can be awarded in 1 year. 

Dr Alison Walker was awarded the KAM for her distinguished and dedicated service to the ambulance sector. She was the Medical Director of the West Midlands Ambulance Service from 2019 - 2024 having been the interim Director for the previous 9 years. In addition, Alison is the current chair of the Joint Royal Colleges Ambulance Liaison Committee and continues to respond to 999 calls on a voluntary basis with BASICS as well as working as an Emergency Medicine Consultant. She is DIMC and FIMC RCSEd Examiner and teaches on the FPHC's Crowd Doctor and Practitioner Course. 

Mr Dave Bywater is the Scottish Ambulance Service's (SAS) Lead Consultant Paramedic and played and instrumental role in shaping Scotland's Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrest strategy. The award of his KAM recognises 30 years of dedicated service to the SAS and contributions spanning an exceptionally wide range of other key strategic and delivery roles within the organisation. Dave has also held a number of voluntary roles with BASICS Scotland and The Sandpiper Trust who, in addition to providing pre-hospital responders and equipment throughout Scotland, support the delivery of the FPHC exams. 

All 3 of the individuals are richly deserving of their awards which are indicative of many years of exceptional contributions to pre-hospital care at operational, tactical and strategic levels in the national arena. 

Dr David Bruce 

Chair of the Training and Standards Committee