The West Midlands Ambulance Service (WMAS) has made it to the finals of a disability awareness award.

The service's University NHS Foundation Trust is nominated for the Disability Confident Mental Health & Wellbeing in the Workplace Award in the Disability Smart Awards 2024.

The accolade highlights organisations showing support for the mental health and wellbeing of their disabled employees.

 

 

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In addition, it acknowledges the creative strategies of the organisations, with a focus on inclusion and accessibility.

The criteria requires organisations to provide evidence showing the removal of barriers to access mental health and wellbeing support for disabled employees.

WMAS is also the sole NHS Trust to make the finals.

It will vie for the award against global corporations Bristol Myers Squibb and retail giant Asda.

Recruitment manager, Louise Jones, said: "I was thrilled to be able to pull together all the great work that is currently being done in the Trust by colleagues and I think this accolade recognises how hard everyone works to make WMAS an inclusive place to work.

"We have so many great things to shout about but we don’t stop there, we continue to identify how we can further support both applicants and employees with disabilities to succeed at work."

To further its mental health support, WMAS has a range of resources to suit the varying needs of its staff.

This includes the Disability, Carers & Advocates Network, and a recently launched Neurodiversity workplace support group.

The latter is peer-led, and provides colleagues with an informal support platform, where employees can share their experiences and receive support.

The Trust is also working with the British Dyslexia Association as part of its workplace accreditation scheme.

The award ceremony is set to take place in London on Tuesday, April 30, and can be watched live online.