YOU COULD start the new year with a new job – West Midlands Ambulance Service is looking for call assessors to join its Emergency Operations Centre.
Call assessors are the first point of contact for anyone calling 999 for an ambulance.
You don’t have to drive on blue lights but you are just as important in helping to save lives. It could be an elderly man suffering a stroke, a mother worried about her unresponsive baby, a driver who has just witnessed a road traffic collision or a husband who suspects his wife isn’t breathing. Whilst help is being arranged for the patient, call assessors establish what’s happened, check on the patient’s symptoms and offer advice over the phone; advice that can and does saves lives.
As our newest recruits into the control room will tell you, it’s one of the most rewarding jobs they’ve ever done.
Annie-Rose Blackwell applied for the role in October last year, three months later she was answering 999 calls. Annie said: “I was already working for the Trust as a call taker for patient transport but when the job in EOC came up I wanted to experience more of an emergency environment.
“The training proved intense and at times difficult but the support given by the trainers made the process enjoyable.
“My proudest moment in my new role so far is helping a patient in cardiac arrest and hearing them breathe again.
“My advice to anyone thinking of applying would be to just go for it! You’d be surprised what you can achieve with a good team behind you.”
The three-month training includes a nationally recognised first aid qualification, learning about health and physiology, an accreditation to use the national telephone triage system and comprehensive training to use the Trust’s computer systems.
Once you’ve completed the classroom based training, you’ll be mentored in the Emergency Operations Centre taking 999 calls with an experienced call assessor until undertaking a final assessment where you’ll then be signed off as ready to taken 999 calls alone.
To view the vacancy, job description and person specification, please visit http://www.jobs.nhs.uk/ and type ‘Ambulance’ in the keywords box and ‘West Midlands’ in the area box.
The closing date for applications is Thursday (January 19).
There are also other West Midlands NHS jobs on the site.
