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Honours list recognition in the north-east


By David Porter

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Amongst the recipients in the New Year Honours list a pioneering doctor, a senior police officer

Dr Adaeze Ifezulike is made an MBE for services to Health Inequalities in BAME Communities in Scotland.

Dr Adaeze Ifezulike MBE
Dr Adaeze Ifezulike MBE

A General Practitioner hailing from Westhill, she is a full-time GP and has worked to promote the uptake of Covid-19 vaccination by the Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic community.

Concerned by the statistics showing vaccine hesitancy among this community, she organised for key leaders within the community, including church and mosque leaders, to participate in the vaccination programme.

She coordinated fellow doctors to produce a highly effective video targeted at those who are not taking up the uptake of the Covid vaccine, encouraging uptake locally.

This video received recognition by NHS Grampian and aired on the NHS social media networks.

She has aslo spearheaded the setting up of Mobile Vaccination centres in Faith centres to facilitate the uptake of vaccines while working full time as a busy GP in an inner city practice.

Her work has also seen her strive to improve health within these communities, teaching on important health topics such as the management of diabetes and obesity and holding workshops on HIV, blood borne diseases such as Hepatitis and other conditions relevant to ethnic minority communities at her own expense.

She was successful in persuading the NHS and local churches to work together to offer testing for HIV, Hepatitis, screening for Diabetes and other tests inside churches, thereby allowing much needed access to often hard-to-reach groups for health screening programmes.

Her work to fight obesity saw more than 250 families actively engaged in managing their weight under her guidance, changing their lifestyles to include more exercise, better nutrition, accepting coaching on better sleep, stress management and other healthy lifestyle measures, with the aim of improving their general health.

The impact of her work on women’s health and contraception within the black community led to an award nomination by the Family Planning Association.

Chief Superintendent Louise Blakelock QPM
Chief Superintendent Louise Blakelock QPM

Inverurie based Chief Superintendent Louise Blakelock who received ths Queen's Police Medal served as a police cadet before joining Grampian Police in 1993 and became a member of the Road Policing Unit in 1997.

She was promoted to the rank of sergeant in 2003 and always maintained a keen interest in road policing and road safety matters.

In 2008 she was promoted to inspector working in community policing roles in Moray and Aberdeenshire and in 2014 was promoted to Chief Inspector at the newly formed National Road Policing Unit.

In 2017 she was promoted to the rank of Superintendent within Road Policing, leading a review of the department’s structure, guiding staff through the successful implementation of the new operating model and delivering improvements in service delivery for communities.

In January 2020 she was promoted to Chief Superintendent and appointed Head of Road Policing.

She maintains strong collaborative relationships with both local and national partners, including Local Authorities, Transport Scotland and Road Safety Scotland which is key to supporting Road Policing’s core role of reducing road casualties and improving road safety.

Louise strives to ensure that the welfare and wellbeing of her staff is at the heart of the department.

She is an active supporter of the Scottish Women’s Development Forum, the Scottish LGBTI Police Association and the Association of Scottish Police Superintendents.

Chief Superintendent Blakelock said: “I am extremely humbled and honoured to have received this recognition for doing a job that I love.”

MBE awards were also made to Ian Davidson, principal teacher of guidance at Elgin Academy for services to eduction in Moray, John Duncan from Drumoak for political service, Buckie's Syd Harris chairman of the festival of Brass and Voices for services to community music in Scotland and to Cancer Research UK and Heather Morrison from Strachan for services to Dementia Services and Scouting.

The British Empire Medal was awarded to Alison Christie for services to the Aberdeen City Council Children's Panel.


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