Yorkshire Ambulance Service Corporate Communications Team Scoops Silver PR Award

The Yorkshire Ambulance Service Corporate Communications Team has won a Silver Chartered Institute of Public Relations PRide Award 2016 in recognition of the work done to raise the profile of our efforts to provide cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training to 20,000 schoolchildren on Restart a Heart Day in 2015.

The team entered the Public Sector Campaign category and the results were announced at an awards ceremony in Leeds in November.

Led by Corporate Communications Officer Louise Boyes, the team planned a multi-faceted campaign to increase public awareness of the benefits of bystander CPR, recruit volunteers to facilitate the training and secured partnership support.

The campaign strategy included implementation of a variety of tactics including social media, traditional media, profiling ‘flagship’ schools across the region, providing a dedicated online microsite and encouraging support from health and emergency service partners, professional football and rugby clubs and celebrities.

Widespread national and local media coverage and significant Twitter activity helped to raise the profile of the campaign and the event model was this year adopted by the UK’s 13 other ambulance services.