Emergency Care Assistant

South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust is seeking compassionate, caring and committed individuals to use advanced driving skills and provide support to our dedicated team of Paramedics attending accidents and sudden illnesses to join our holding pool as Emergency Care Assistants.

Emergency Care Assistants provide essential support to our team of qualified Paramedics to deliver high quality and effective clinical and personal care.

SWASFT provide a wide range of emergency and urgent care services across a fifth of England covering Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and the former Avon area. We are looking for applicants interested in all locations. We are particularly interested in applications from individuals based within Wiltshire, Somersetor Dorsetat this time.

If you’re looking to make the most of your life skills in a challenging but extremely rewarding environment and are willing to work shifts, this could be the ideal opportunity for you.

You will need a full, clean driving licence including the C1 Category.

On offer of employment, SWASFT will provide you with comprehensive clinical training and driver training to prepare you for the role of ECA. Subject to passing this training, you will then commence full time employment for the Trust.

• To ensure a continuous duty of care to patients, within the level of training and competency of this role, ensuring an appropriate level of monitoring and treatment is maintained and continued until the patient is either discharged or transferred to the care of another healthcare professional
• To ensure that a clear handover report is provided when the patient is handed into the care of another health professional, this should record all pertinent patient information, in accordance with Trust procedure and that the transfer of patients into the care of others is conducted according to procedure
• Drive all types of approved ambulance service vehicles under normal and emergency (blue light) circumstances, in accordance with the laid down standards of the service and within road traffic law, taking particular care of the vehicle, its occupants and other road users
• Carry out general vehicle checks at the start of and during each shift, to ensure the readiness of the vehicle and communications equipment to respond as required. All defects, deficiencies and accident damage must be reported in accordance with Trust procedure.

You will be assessed for this position through an assessment day. These take place every third Saturday of each month with differing locations. This assessment day will include:

• Physical assessment
• Group discussion
• Group Task -Team building exercise

Assessment Dates:

• 20th May at Bridgwater
• 17th June at Chippenham
• 22nd July at Bristol

At South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWASFT) we have a culture where everyone is valued for being themselves. Our aim is to work together to promote the most inclusive environment possible, which attracts people from the widest range of backgrounds and experiences to enrich the work that we do together, for the benefit of all of our employees, our patients and the communities we serve. We offer flexible working opportunities, inclusive policies and a range of feedback mechanisms to support individuals and to enable a positive, welcoming environment where our people and their careers can thrive in.

We employ over 5,000 employees mainly clinical, operational and emergency response staff as well as supporting roles. We also employ Doctors and volunteers which include community first responders and fire co-responders.

We take all the steps needed to provide the most compassionate patient care possible whilst also providing an enjoyable and safe place to work. We actively promote a positive set of behaviours as being key to our performance both individually and collectively. Our recruitment, selection and screening processes are designed to uphold these standards and we invite all our candidates to actively share with us through these processes how they will bring these behaviours to life.

For further information about this role please see attached the job description and person specification attached.