Emergency Care Assistant - Patient Transport Service

An exciting opportunity to work as an Emergency Care Assistant in our Non Emergency Patient Transport Service (NEPTS). Providing care to our patients and responding to urgent, special and planned patient transport requests using advanced driving skills under blue light and normal traffic conditions as required., + Respond/attend to urgent, special and planned patient transfer requests.
+ 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 use advanced driving skills under blue light and normal traffic conditions to respond to emergency and routine calls as required.
+ To operate High Dependency vehicles and deliver a low acuity service to patients requiring urgent admission to acute care, or transfer to a higher level of care.
+ Communicate with and manage patients, relatives, carers and the public in a calm, sensitive and professional manner ensuring patient dignity and informed consent for all patient assessment and movement.
+ Use patient lifting equipment such as stretchers, wheelchairs, carry chairs and stair climbers for the safe and efficient movement of patients in both domestic and hospital environments.

Working for our organisation
Essentia has a fundamental role in supporting the activities of the Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust. Essentia's focus is on providing a high-quality hospital environment and a high-quality hospital experience for our patients: through setting imaginative standards in the physical and built environment, through a programme of improvements to the range of support services, and by fostering a strong overarching patient-focused approach.
The Non-Emergency Patient Transport Service (NEPTS) is part of Essentia. Our patient transport service is available for all patients who cannot travel to or from our hospitals using any other method of transport because of their medical or mobility condition, or because their medical condition would otherwise worsen. All requests for patient transport are assessed on medical need. Patient transport vehicles operate with appropriate staff and equipment. As patients have diverse needs, we provide a range of vehicles such as cars, wheel chair accessible cars, ambulances, high-dependency units and use specialist equipment such as wheelchairs, stretchers, carry chairs and stair climbers., + Demonstrate care and understanding for patients even when the patient and/or their families/carers may be confrontational or distressed.
+ 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 Essentia procedures.
+ Maintain a competent working knowledge of all medical and life support equipment carried on vehicles appropriate to the required skill level and scope of practice.
+ Maintain competence in assisting a qualified practitioner in the use of appropriate equipment in line with the scope of practice and associated training.
+ Drive all types of approved ambulance 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 components and other road users.
+ Ensure that all procedures used within the scope of practice are consistent with and promote good infection control.
+ Ensure that required equipment is stored, transported and cared for so that they are always in good working order.
+ Observe patient vital signs using skills and equipment relevant to scope of practice as directed and reporting any changes to the qualified clinician.
+ Provide and take relevant information from carers or others at any scene, reporting to qualified practitioner, health care professionals, hospital or other relevant agencies as required.
+ Ensure the safe handover of patients to/from clinical settings ensuring clear and concise communication with relevant personnel.
+ Accurately complete all appropriate documentation relating to patients attended, work, journeys undertaken, vehicles and equipment in accordance with Essentia policies and submit within required timeframes to Transport office.
+ The accurate recording of all journey information such as deterioration in patient's health, accidents involving patients, any abusive or threatening behaviour on the incident form or any other required documentation as required.
+ Report any accidents and/or injuries to patients, members of the public and to vehicles promptly and to make a full report of any such incident on the required documentation without delay.
+ Be flexible in attitude to meet the constantly changing nature of care and service delivery.
+ Work with others and use available equipment to ensure the safe manual handling and movement of patients.
+ Take personal action to resolve patient's issues of concern or complaints, or where this is not possible, advising the patient or their family/careers on whom to contact next.
+ Undertake learning to ensure that own knowledge and skills are maintained at the required level.
+ Undertake required learning and ensure that this is put into practice and maintain personal CPD folder for review every 12 months.
Guy's and St Thomas' celebrates, respects and values the diversity of its staff and patients. We review our policies, procedures and practices to ensure that all employees, patients and carers are treated equitable according to their needs. We are actively committed to ensuring that no one who applies for a job, works or study's at the Trust, or accesses our services is discriminated against on the grounds of race, ethnicity, nationality, disability, religion or belief, age, gender identity , gender reassignment, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity/paternity, or marital/civil partnership.
Applications are welcomed from applicants with a disability. We can make reasonable adjustments and offer support and advice in a variety of ways throughout the application process. Equality of opportunity is our policy.
As an organisation we are committed to developing our services in ways that best suit the needs of our patients. This means that some staff groups will increasingly be asked to work a more flexible shift pattern so that we can offer services in the evenings or at weekends.
Flexible working
We are committed to supporting all employees to achieve a healthy work life balance and to work in a way that is best for them and our patients. We will consider all requests to work flexibly, taking in to account the individual's personal circumstances as well the needs of the service. We encourage all prospective applicants to discuss their individual circumstances with the recruiting manager as part of the on-boarding process.
Your e-mail address is important to us - We communicate to all job applicants via the e-mail address which has been provided on the application form. Please ensure that you check your e-mail on a regular basis.
Please apply for this post by clicking "Apply Online Now."

We are looking for enthusiastic and dedicated people who are preferably FREC 4 (First Response Emergency Care Level 4) and CERAD (Level 3 Certificate in Emergency Response Ambulance Driving) trained who want to join our friendly and supportive team.

NHS AfC: Band 4
Guy's and St Thomas' is among the UK's busiest and most successful NHS foundation trusts. We provide a full range of hospital and community services for people in south London and as well as specialist care for patients from further afield including cancer, renal, orthopaedic, respiratory and cardiovascular services.
Guy's is home to the largest dental school in Europe and a £160 million Cancer Centre opened in 2016. As part of our commitment to provide care closer to home, in 2017 we also opened a cancer centre and a kidney treatment centre at Queen Mary's Hospital in Sidcup. St Thomas' has one of the largest critical care units in the UK and one of the busiest emergency departments in London. It is also home to Evelina London Children's Hospital.
Evelina London cares for local children in Lambeth and Southwark and provides specialist services across south east England including cardiac, renal and critical care services. We lead a number of specialist service networks aiming to ensure children are treated locally where possible, but have access to specialist expertise when they need it. Our community services include health visiting, school nursing and support for families of children with long-term conditions.
Our adult community services teams deliver care at the heart of the local communities we serve, working in partnership with GPs, local authorities and other healthcare and voluntary sector organisations. Working with our partners in Lambeth and Southwark, we are focusing on new ways of working to improve care for local patients.
In February 2021 the Royal Brompton and Harefield joined Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, bringing together world-leading expertise in the care and research of heart and lung disease. Our merger provides a once in a generation opportunity to build a lasting, world-renowned heart and lung centre, providing the highest quality care for patients and conducting world-leading research.
We have a reputation for clinical excellence and high quality teaching and research. We are part of King's Health Partners, one of eight accredited UK academic health sciences centres. In partnership with King's College London we have dedicated clinical research facilities including an MHRA accredited Phase I clinical trials unit.
Patients are at the heart of everything we do and we pride ourselves on ensuring the best possible patient experience as well as safe, high quality care. We are proud to have one of the lowest mortality rates in the NHS. Following a comprehensive Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection in 2019 we maintained our overall rating of 'good'. Our adult community services achieved a rating of 'outstanding'.
The commitment of our 23,500 staff is key to our success. We are one of the largest local employers and we aim to develop and support all our staff so they are able to deliver high quality, safe and efficient care. The 2019 NHS staff survey results show that we have one of the most engaged and motivated workforces in the NHS. We know this has a positive impact on the care provided to our patients.
We have one of the most ambitious capital investment programmes anywhere in the NHS.