An ambulance worker from Beckenham has been honoured with an award recognising her 'outstanding service'.

Cathy-Anne Burchett, who works as a London Ambulance Service Acting Operations Centre Manager, came top in the welfare and well being category at the Ambulance Leadership Forum awards.

Ms Burchett, 42, has worked there for 20 years and also volunteers for the peer support service.

The mother of two said: "I feel very humbled to get an award. I just do my job day to day and so I was very surprised to be nominated."

She started off her career answering 999 calls, and described the job as 'very unpredictable', adding: "You never know what’s going to happen next. It can be very high-pressured too as we’re extremely busy and you have to be able to remain calm. I love it though as it gives me a buzz to be able to help patients.

"You do get upsetting and abusive calls, but for each of those, there are ones that are great, such as hearing a baby cry for the first time when you’ve given advice over the phone during a birth, or when someone starts breathing again when you’ve given CPR instructions over the phone – it can be very rewarding."

She now works in the control room, supporting those who take the calls.

Reminiscing of the changes in the last 20 years, she said: "When I first started, we wrote the call details on paper and put them on a conveyor belt to go to the people who dispatched the ambulances, whereas now it’s all done by computer.

"We’re so much busier now, taking around 5,000 calls a day and not just sending ambulances, but motorbikes, cars, bicycles and a helicopter – it’s changed so much!"

She received her award on November 18 in Leeds.