Director of Ambulance Operations recognised in the New Year Honours List

A long-serving member of the London Ambulance Service team has been awarded the King’s Ambulance Service Medal in the New Year Honours.

Since joining London Ambulance Service in 1992 as a paramedic, Darren Farmer has provided exemplary service for over 30 years rising through the ranks to become Director of Ambulance Operations with responsibility for more than 5,000 members of frontline staff.

LAS Chief Executive Daniel Elkeles said:

“This is a well-deserved recognition for Darren and the Service. Darren is highly respected for his compassionate and inclusive leadership. He always goes above and beyond, driving forward measures that have both a positive impact on the wellbeing of our staff and in improving patient care.”

In the past couple of years, Darren has been instrumental in introducing a new way of working at LAS to improve workloads and lead to improved satisfaction among frontline staff. The creation of smaller teams with managers working the same roster as their reports has led to better access to managers, more manageable workloads and strengthened sense of teamwork. Staff satisfaction has risen from 30 per cent to 80 per cent.

Darren was one of the first managers in a Quality Governance and Assurance role created in response to a Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection. He established principles that the quality of patient care should be recognised as much as ambulance response times.

Darren is also known at LAS for his strong sense of compassion and commitment to staff welfare. This is frequently seen his dealings with operational staff around some of the distressing calls they attend. Most recently in July 2023 he led the organisation as Gold commander for a major incident in Wimbledon involving several children injured in a primary school. Throughout the incident, Darren focused on ensuring timely support for LAS colleagues who responded at the scene and ongoing assistance in the aftermath.

Darren Farmer said:

“I am hugely honoured and humbled to receive this medal on behalf of London Ambulance Service and the paramedic profession.

“I am proud to have worked at LAS for the past 30 years alongside excellent colleagues who day in and day out are dedicated to helping the people of London.”