Vikki is Major hit in Welsh Veterans’ Awards

An advanced clinical practitioner at Glan Clwyd Hospital “didn’t believe” she had been shortlisted for a prestigious armed forces award.

However, Vikki Montgomery (aka army Major Victoria Montgomery QARANC, 206 MMR) was delighted to find out she had been nominated for the final stages of the Reservist of the Year award.

It is one of the categories in the Welsh Veterans’ Awards and Vikki will find out if she is a winner at a ceremony in Cardiff on July 5.

She said: “I got an email and said ‘this looks good’ but I didn’t believe it when I heard I had been nominated.”

Vikki has worked for Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board for almost 24 years in one guise or another and moved from the Isle of Man to take up nursing training at the University of Wales, Bangor, in 1996.

She started her army career with 208 Liverpool Field Hospital in 2001 and rose to the rank of Major in the Queen Alexandra Royal Army Nursing Corps.

Vikki supports the Army Medical Service Training Centre and BCUHB with resuscitation training as immediate life support and advanced life support instructor when able.

She also runs an honorary contracts (HC) project for regular and reserve armed forces personnel with the backing of BCUHB.

The scheme supports and enables HC participants to maintain and increase their clinical skills and exposure to healthcare provision to ensure they are deployable.

“Betsi has been really good with honorary contracts,” said Vikki. “People come from all across the North West and North Wales to benefit from them.”

She has provided multiple immediate life support courses for regular and reserve armed forces personnel for many years outside of Brigade, including throughout COVID.

Vikki has seen active service in Iraq twice, been on a military exchange programme with the US National Guard in Virginia and been deployed on military exercises across the UK, Europe and the Americas.

She has been an advanced clinical practitioner as part of the Acute Intervention Team at Glan Clwyd Hospital for the past 10 years and says she loves her role.