An ambulance service career is much more than 'flashing blue lights'. You'll make a difference every day to patients in emergency and non-emergency situations.
There are a variety of roles in the ambulance team from paramedic to patient transport. Some jobs need a degree education while others are direct entry so you can apply for a job straight from school or college. There are also apprenticeship opportunities for many ambulance service roles.
Whatever your situation or strengths, the ambulance team has a role for you.
As a qualified paramedic, no day is the same. You’ll work in a variety of emergency and non-emergency situations, using your judgement and skills to quickly assess a patient’s condition and make life-saving decisions.
You’ll be trained to resuscitate and stabilise patients using sophisticated techniques, equipment and drugs. In an emergency, you may use high-tech equipment such as defibrillators, spinal and traction splints, as well as administering oxygen and drugs.
You’ll often work alongside the police and fire and rescue service. Along with your patients, you’ll support their relatives, friends and members of the public, some of whom might be highly agitated.
Based in a central office, you'll book the vehicles that take patients to and from local clinics, day care centres and non-emergency hospital admissions.
Handling requests for transport from patients and their relatives and from healthcare professionals such as nurses, means you will need to record patients' details accurately on a computer.
PTS call handlers may speak to the patients themselves. They may also deal with doctors, medical and non-medical health centre staff, PTS crews, voluntary ambulance car drivers, hospital departments and other healthcare professionals.
You'll be responsible for looking after your passengers and, because many of them will be in poor health, you will also need life-saving skills in case there is a medical emergency.
As well as driving, you'll lift and help patients in and out of the vehicle. You'll make sure they're safe and comfortable during the journey and arrive on time for their appointment.
You will work as part of the emergency and urgent care team. You will have direct contact with patients, providing high quality and compassionate care. Duties could involve working as part of an ambulance crew responding to emergency (999) and urgent calls, driving safely at high speed.
This role involves responding to cases of sudden illness and injury, responding to healthcare professional assessed calls, and to provide special and planned patient transfers.
The role also includes transporting patients, using equipment in line with the scope of practice and associated training, using ambulance driving skills under blue light and normal traffic conditions to respond to emergency and urgent calls as needed.