AmbulanceAn ambulance is a vehicle for transporting sick or injured people, to, from or between places of treatment for an illness or injury. The term ambulance is used to describe a vehicle used to bring medical care to patients outside of the hospital or to transport the patient to hospital for follow-up...
Care Assistants (ACA), transport non-emergency patients to and from hospital for pre-arranged appointments. They also work to discharge, transfer and admit patients. Working for the Patient Transport Service, they help patients in and out of the ambulance and take them to their appointment. Afterwards the patient is driven back to their home, and the care assistant will ensure they are settled in before leaving.
AmbulanceAn ambulance is a vehicle for transporting sick or injured people, to, from or between places of treatment for an illness or injury. The term ambulance is used to describe a vehicle used to bring medical care to patients outside of the hospital or to transport the patient to hospital for follow-up...
Care Assistants (ACA), transport non-emergency patients to and from hospital for pre-arranged appointments. They also work to discharge, transfer and admit patients. Working for the Patient Transport Service, they help patients in and out of the ambulance and take them to their appointment. Afterwards the patient is driven back to their home, and the care assistant will ensure they are settled in before leaving. Many of the people care assistants deal with are frail, elderly, physically disabled or have mental health problems. They are likely to be worried and nervous and need to be treated with kindness and patience.
Throughout the working day staff are in regular contact with the control room, who update the crews of any change in appointments etc to make sure that the crews are running to time. Their work involves a lot of heavy lifting, carrying and bending.
AmbulanceAn ambulance is a vehicle for transporting sick or injured people, to, from or between places of treatment for an illness or injury. The term ambulance is used to describe a vehicle used to bring medical care to patients outside of the hospital or to transport the patient to hospital for follow-up...
Care Assistants are responsible for the routine maintenance of their vehicle and its equipment.
Some ambulance services in Britain have an ACA grade known as
Urgent-Tier. These staff will drive
A & EThe emergency department , sometimes termed the emergency room , emergency ward , accident & emergency department or casualty department is a hospital or primary care department that provides initial treatment to patients with a broad spectrum of illnesses and injuries, some of which may be...
ambulances and will partner with a
ParamedicA paramedic is a medical professional, usually a member of the emergency medical services, who primarily provides pre-hospital advanced medical and trauma care...
or
TechnicianEmergency medical technician is a term used in various countries to denote a healthcare provider trained to provide pre-hospital emergency medical services....
. Their role will involve the transport to hospital of
Urgent (as opposed to Emergency) cases and they will usually provide inter-hospital transfers where the patients condition requires a higher degree of clinical care than a regular ACA can provide. This position requires successful completion of an emergency driving course, equal to that which Emergency crews must pass. The Urgent-Tier crew also can be called to attend emergency calls as first responding crew when no other crews are available.
Skills and interests
In order to become an ambulance care assistant, you will need:
a warm, outgoing, caring personality
the ability to work with all types of people
to enjoy helping people
good driving skills and a full clean driving licence
a strong sense of responsibility and a serious attitude to work
good organisational skills
to enjoy being part of a team
physical and emotional stamina.
Entry
The Emergency medical services in the United Kingdom are organised on a local basis and run by district health authorities or
NHSThe National Health Service is the name commonly used to refer to the publicly-funded health care services in Great Britain. In England the name National Health Service is used without further qualification whereas the services in Scotland and Wales are known as NHS Scotland and NHS Wales...
trusts. Entry criteria and training may vary between regions.
In general, to work as an ambulance care assistant you need:
to be over 18 years of age (21 in some services)
to hold a full, usually clean, driving licence for at least one year, sometimes two - if you passed your test after 1996, you may need an extra driving qualification
to satisfy the selection criteria set by the local ambulance service you are applying to - this may include testing your driving skills and knowledge of the Highway Code
to have a medical assessment to make sure you are physically fit and have good eyesight.
You also need a good general standard of education, and some ambulance services ask for a minimum of four GCSEs (A-C)/S grades (1-3) in English, maths and a science-based subject. Equivalent qualifications may be accepted; check with your local ambulance service.
Training
Once accepted into a service, you take a two to four week training course which involves:
improving your driving skills
developing moving and handling techniques
first aid
basic emergency accident management
(in some services) administering oxygen therapy.
You are tested by continuous assessment and also take written and practical examinations.
If you reach the required standards you are attached to an ambulance station and work under the guidance of a trained supervisor for a probationary period before working unsupervised.
Working as an
AmbulanceAn ambulance is a vehicle for transporting sick or injured people, to, from or between places of treatment for an illness or injury. The term ambulance is used to describe a vehicle used to bring medical care to patients outside of the hospital or to transport the patient to hospital for follow-up...
Care Assistant is the established route to a career as an Ambulance Technician, and ultimately to
ParamedicA paramedic is a medical professional, usually a member of the emergency medical services, who primarily provides pre-hospital advanced medical and trauma care...
.