Training as ambulance technician in the UK

subscriber

Does anyone know where or how to start a career in the Uk ambulance service?

Currently on the 2010 HSE panel but may need to reconsider my options as things in this country are not looking to promising and are moving quiet slowly also.

From research , I can see you must start as an ACA (ambulance care assistant) before progressing onto paramedic training having served time on duty as an ACA first.

I have my irish EMT course under my belt and have all the licences as well.

I have also seen on the websites there is university degrees that u can attend through both private and public institutions , but as far as I am aware , they are just prep courses and are not directly linked to NHS jobs in any way.. so I dont know if there would be any benefit of doing one of these.

Other than that I am not entirely sure how to go about getting a start. I can see there is jobs advertised within the different trusts on nhsjobs.co.uk but there is no reciprocal agreement between ireland and the UK to recognise courses done over here. Maby start all over again?? Next: I have no idea if any of these trusts offer on site training themselves or where this maybe advertised?

Hopefully somebody can shed some light here?

Thanks in advance..

touge_drift

they recently switched over from ihcd awards to a degree program which means going to study at uni.

ive looked into this alot myself and a few things ive noticed:
there doesnt seem to be any garunteed progression to technician(our paramedic) or onto paramedic from the eca/aca/acsw position. each trust works differently from each other it seems.

scotland is a good option as they still do things relitivly in the old ways
, ive applied for a good few positions with them but understandably they picked locals over me.

check out ukambulanceforum.com i get alot of good info from the guys on that forum

subscriber

yes i looked into scotland before myself but it seemed after getting a few emails back ect.. that england was more accessible , but that may no longer be the case as that was a year ago now.

define acsw please?

Whats the story with applying to scotland, is it similar to ireland in that there is one organisation to apply to or is it more like england where there is different provinces / counties that have separate recruitment processes ??

Some links would be helpful please...

cheers man

N

touge_drift

subscriber wrote: »

yes i looked into scotland before myself but it seemed after getting a few emails back ect.. that england was more accessible , but that may no longer be the case as that was a year ago now.

define acsw please?

Whats the story with applying to scotland, is it similar to ireland in that there is one organisation to apply to or is it more like england where there is different provinces / counties that have separate recruitment processes ??

Some links would be helpful please...

cheers man

N

http://www.scottishambulance.com/WorkingForUs/CurrentVacancies/Vacancies.aspx
i check that every so often. what you do is download and print off a nhs standard appliciation form, fill it all out(about 10 a4 pages) and send it off to their hr department. it has the usual questions any application form has, asking about education, personal qualities, experience etc they usually email back confirmation once they get it.
it seems like its just the one place to apply to. they have an all in one interview/assessment day, from a source in the service he tells me you do a driving assessment, interview and type of aptitude test all in the one day, but as ive never gotten that far yet i cannot confirm it.

eca-emergency care assistant, aca- ambulance care assistant, acsw- ambulance care support worker..... each nhs trust(simular to our old health board regions) has their own name for them. but they all have a simular skill set which matches our irish nq-emt.

one problem i encounterted, the hpc(health professions council) is who their paramedics are registered with, they only recgonise health care professionals (i.e paramedics, nurses and doctors). The ambulance technician and the uk emt role arent registered with them like we are with phecc so there is no way to apply to get our qualification recgonised over there directly, its up to each trust to decided indivually.

houndsoflove

You have to do a fitness test too for the scottish ambulance service

rblenner

Don't stress the fitness test, it's seriously basic, some people in my assessment group did the test in their interview suit!

Apply for any ECA / Tech jobs if you can't find any trainee paramedic jobs advertised, it's a good stepping stone. I can only speak for the Trust I work for, but they are keen to promote if you have the ability. There's no harm sharpening your teeth in these positions before you go for your para.

Janet1986

What did they have to do in the fitness test? (if you don't mind me asking)

rblenner

It's a basic physical stress test, and I mean basic, don't stress it. I think that's all I can say without getting in to trouble. Best way to prepare for it is to walk up and down a set of stairs or do some walks at a good pace, and maybe do a bit of stretching.

Airsoftmedic

I would not describe the fitness test for the Scottish Ambuance Service as a basic fitness test :rolleyes:

They advise you to wear comfortable clothing for your safety when under going assessment rather than an interview suit.

subscriber

fitness test will be a breeze foe me, i wouldn't stress it at all. Im in very good physical fitness.

houndsoflove

I got called for an assessment on Tuesday.

There is no aptitude test like here.

Only driving, fitness, and cognitive tests

They do state to wear comfortable clothes for the fitness test,
i thought carrying the 30kg weight was the hardest part (but i'm tiny )

flazio

Sorry if this is digging a too old thread but can I ask this question.
Say a school leaver in the UK wants to join the ambulance service, here we would, for now, recommend joining a voluntary service and get trained up and then apply for any vacancies, there is a College course forthcoming but not yet,
what would you say to a UK kid?

NIFRS

basically the same, there are a number of uni's in the uk offering paramedic science degrees, however places are oversubscribed so very competitive, so any experience would stand by you to get a place... join one of the voluntaries, take a health care support course get some hands on experience.

There are very few opportunities to apply directly as a student paramedic, but they still recruit every so often for ECA's, ECSW's which would be another route into the service, and hope to get an opportunity to train as a para that way.
Scotland will be recruiting for student ambulance technicians again at some stage.... I applied a few months ago and have just been offered a position. Keep an eye on NHS jobs and Nhs scotland recruitment.

Good luck