Ambulance Care Assistant

Overview

We have a fantastic opportunity for Ambulance Care Assistants to join our team based in Reading. Start date for training – Monday 2nd March. You must be available to start on this date. An Ambulance Care Assistant (ACA) is a hugely rewarding and fulfilling role. Each day, you’ll be helping someone in need, making their lives that little bit easier, and knowing that you make a difference to their day provides you with a real sense of achievement. Your main responsibility will be transporting elderly, sick and vulnerable service users to and from their medical appointments and between healthcare facilities. This can be carried out as two-person crews or alone, so it is vital to hold a full UK driving licence and to have a good degree of physical fitness. This is a permanent, full time role which includes weekends with shifts varying from 0500 to 0100.

Responsibilities

• Transporting elderly, sick and vulnerable service users to and from appointments and between healthcare facilities.
• Assisting in the transportation of ‘end of life’ service users, ensuring a high level of empathy is present at all times.
• Building rapport by effectively communicating with patients and their relatives/friends.
• Responsible for lifting, securing and helping service users in and out of the Ambulance.
• Assist with the handing over of patients to appropriate staff on arrival at treatment centres/hospitals or to family/friends at their homes.
• Transfer patients from beds to stretchers, chairs to chairs or similar both in and out of hospital and during medical/commercial flights.
• Assisting service users with challenging behaviour and/or mental health illnesses.
• Ensuring that the ambulance is kept safe, clean and tidy.

Qualifications

• Committed to patient care.
• An effective communicator with experience of communicating with others in emotionally charged circumstances.
• A calm, considerate, careful driver with no more than three penalty points on your license.
• A natural flair for team working and collaboration.
• Physically fit for patient handling and moving.
• Hold a valid UK manual driving licence with less than 6 points.
• Pass an Enhanced DBS check (company funded).
• Be able to work flexible shifts.
• Familiar with the local and surrounding area.

Benefits

• £12.21 per hour.
• Life Assurance – providing colleagues and their family financial peace of mind and protection to the value of £5,000.
• 24/7 online/telephone GP Consultation and access to prescriptions.
• 2nd opinion medical support following diagnosis or where a colleague is on a treatment pathway.
• Cash‑plan benefits, including dental, optical, chiropody, and protection in case of illness or recuperation.
• Access to mental health consultations.
• Access to physiotherapy consultations.
• Access to legal advice on domestic issues such as motoring offences, wills and probate, and personal injury.
• Financial guidance on retirement planning, tax savings and state benefits.
• Long Service Recognition Scheme – recognising colleagues for their continued service after 5 years and at 5‑year intervals with an increase in annual leave.
• Values‑based Internal Recognition Scheme with financial reward, leading to an annual recognition event.
• Refer a Friend recruitment incentive scheme with financial rewards.
• The EMED foundation, to provide support to colleagues and our local communities.
• Paid holiday entitlement.
• Pension Scheme.
• Blue Light Card.
• Uniform provided.
• EAP (Employee Assistance Programme) to support a range of health and wellbeing requirements.
• Flu vaccination (through an internal campaign in Autumn/Winter).

Our Values

Collaborative – we work as one team with a shared purpose to meet the needs of our patients, passengers, colleagues, customers, communities, and the planet.

Agile – We listen, learn and adapt to improve the business, each other, and ourselves.

Reliable – We do what we say we will do, we take responsibility and we behave with integrity.

Empowered – We are confident and committed to taking responsibility to deliver the highest quality service.

About Us

The exciting merger of ERS Medical and E‑Zec Medical has enabled us to rebrand, therefore as a combined business we are now known as EMED Group. We are the largest Patient Transport and Care Partner to the NHS with circa 4,000 colleagues across 60 depots. Our ambition is to continue developing patient care transport services that improve the health and wellbeing for people across our local communities by providing transport that supports patient care, community support, secure mental health and medical courier services. EMED Group are committed to providing services for our patients, service users, clients, and community and is supported by employees with an increasing variety of backgrounds. To do this effectively it is essential that we promote equality and embrace diversity and inclusion and treat all of our employees, patients, service users and clients with dignity and respect. EMED Group is committed to encouraging equality, diversity and inclusion among our workforce, and eliminating unlawful discrimination, with our aim being to be truly representative of all sections of society and our clients, and for each employee to feel respected, valued and able to give their best. EMED Group are committed to providing equal opportunities and we endeavour to provide an inclusive and safe working culture for all.