Ambulance Care Assistant

We have a fantastic opportunity for Ambulance Care Assistants to join our new team based in Reading

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.

What benefits can you expect?

• £11.44 per hour rising to £12.21 in April 2025

• Full time role which includes weekends with shifts varying from 0500 to 0100

• 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, providing colleagues the option of protecting themselves in case of illness and recuperation, including dental, optical, chiropody.

• Access to mental health consultations.

• Access to physiotherapy consultations.

• Access to legal advice on domestic issues e.g. motoring offences, wills and probate, and personal injury.

• Financial guidance re 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, which will lead 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).

Other duties include:

• 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/hospital’s 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 medical/commercial flights.

• Assisting service users with challenging behaviour and/or mental health illnesses.

• Ensuring that the ambulance is kept safe, clean and tidy.

To be considered as an ACA, you will need to be:

• Committed to patient care.

• An effective communicator and experience of communicating with others in what can often be emotional circumstances.

• To be a calm, considerate, careful driver, with no more than three penalty points on your license.

• To have a natural flair for team working and collaboration.

• Be 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.

Please note that this role will be subject to several regulatory pre-employment checks, and you will be asked to provide details of your full employment history should you be invited to an interview. Your HMRC record, available to download from the Government Gateway may help you in preparing this information when required.

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.