Head of North Wales Police’s medical services and team recognised for keeping officers and staff healthy

The Head of Medical Services and Wellbeing at North Wales Police has been recognised for her exceptional work in helping to keep officers and staff healthy.

Maria Hughes and her team have been awarded Runner-up in the “Protecting the Workforce” category in the 2019 Oscar Kilo Awards after she organised a force-wide prostrate screening project which undoubtedly changed and, in some cases, may well have saved lives.

The Oskar Kilo awards were created by Lancashire Police Force and now cover forces nationwide, to recognise the amazing work being done across UK policing to provide wellbeing support.

In January 2019 North Wales Police invested in a Head of Medical Services and Wellbeing Post and Maria Hughes, who had worked for the NHS in the Wirral for 17 years as a Lead Nurse, took up the role and soon proposed a project specifically geared to detecting prostate cancer, an issue which affects men in middle age and onwards.

Funding for the project was approved and testing kit support was provided by the Graham Fulford Charitable Trust which specialises in prostate cancer awareness. The events were also supported by the Police Federation and Unison.

Maria, a Queens Nurse with 31 years of experience said; “The force had carried out a great deal of excellent work supporting women in the organisation around the menopause, but I identified a gap in men’s health.

“The project, aimed at men over 40, was tailored to raise awareness of prostate cancer, to enable staff to feel valued and ultimately to save lives.

“We distributed information about Prostate Cancer UK and have carried out 445 tests at five events across the force area. A small number had a red result and the individuals were given appropriate advice.”

Maria added: “I am thrilled to accept the award on behalf of the team and I’d like to thank the Chief Constable Carl Foulkes and Deputy Chief Constable Richard Debicki for their support and Martyn Rice for his phlebotomy skills.

“The project was a great example of partnership working with the Graham Fulford Charity.

“We will be resuming in October and we are also looking at working on a new campaign for officers and staff to join the stem cell register.”