20/12/2023

Emergency Care Assistant

As an Emergency Care Assistant (ECA), your primary responsibilities will involve attending to and conveying patients with acute or urgent clinical needs. You’ll also undertake pre-planned transfers, including journeys between hospitals.

Working in tandem with senior ambulance clinicians, you will form part of a double-crewed ambulance team, responding efficiently to emergency calls.

Duties & Responsibilities

• Attended urgent and emergency calls as directed by an NHS Ambulance Service.
• Working as part of a double-crewed emergency ambulance with more senior ambulance clinicians.
• Physically manoeuvre and/or lift patients using the provided manual handling aids.
• Undertaking a manual handling dynamic risk assessment, where necessary, request additional support before attempting any manoeuvre.
• When required, assist patients in their homes, both before and after transportation, ensuring they have their basic needs catered for and their homes are safe. This includes highlighting and reporting areas of risk in line with the Medicare risk assessment procedures and Safeguarding policy.
• Completing all relevant operational documentation (VDI check sheets, etc).
• Adherence to Medicare policies and procedures.
• Adherence to any relevant policies and procedures as dictated by an NHS contract (this may include policies and procedures provided by the NHS Trust).
• Ensuring all Medicare vehicles are thoroughly checked prior to the start of a shift. This includes the required equipment and roadworthiness checks.
• Ensuring all Medicare vehicles and equipment are kept clean and within relevant infection, prevention and control policies and procedures.
• Reporting any vehicle defects immediately to the Medicare management team.
• Attending any relevant/required training sessions provided by Medicare.
• Have an adaptable approach to the role and a willigness to be flexible.
• Ensure any changes in your driving status is communicated to Medicare immediately
• Maintaining contractual key performance indicators that are within your control (journey times, pick up times etc).
• Identifying and reporting any equipment failures or faults at the point of identification.
• Ensuring the safe and effective disposal of all clinical waste minerals.

Clinical Responsibilities

• Maintain an appropriate level of care for patients relevant to their condition within the authorised level of competence.
• Timely recognition where more senior clinical intervention is required and/or conveyance to a specialist centre is indicated.
• Interact and reassure distressed, emotional or mentally ill persons in accordance with the Mental Capacity Act and Mental Health Act.
• Undertake clinically appropriate assessments and interventions within the ECA clinical scope of practice.
• Ensure the administration of any permitted medicines is done in accordance with the relevant JRCALC clinical guidelines.
• Ensure authorisation is sought prior to the discharge of patient care (this includes onward referrals to another healthcare professional).

Documentation and Record Keeping

• Maintaining a high standard of clinical documentation.
• Accurately record all elements of a clinical assessment and relevant clinical interventions to assist in the continuation of patient care.
• Ensuring the Medicare-specific vehicle forms are completed prior to the start of a shift.
• Submitting accurate and detailed incident forms to Medicare (and any NHS Trust as required).
• Maintaining patient confidentiality at all times.
• Ensuring the safe storage of all clinical documentation in respect of the Medicare control of confidential information policy as outlined within the Data Protection Act and the Caldicott Principles.

Communication

• To communicate sensitive medical information to patients and relatives in a reassuring manner whilst maintaining professionalism, empathy and confidentiality.
• Liaise with other staff and communicate patient information in a professional, confidential manner.
• Maintaining effective communication with patients, healthcare professionals, Medicare Managers and Associate Medicare Professionals.
• Maintain effective communication with any NHS Ambulance Service control room as required.
• Ensuring any relevant individual(s) is made aware of any operational or clinical issues when appropriate
• (this could include informing the NHS Ambulance Service that a transfer is delayed).

Additional Requirements

• Providing requested information to Medicare under the company’s obligations under the NHS safer recruitment requirements.
• Providing an enhanced disclosure barring service (DBS) with barred list information certificate.
• Providing requested documents and evidence to allow Medicare to undertake an enhanced DBS with a barred list information certificate.
• On receipt of the Medicare DBS, signing up to the DBS update service to allow Medicare to conduct annual DBS checks. Alternatively, provide a new DBS certificate on an annual basis.
• Competing the Medicare health assessment prior to the commencement of operational shifts.
• Maintaining compliance with all required mandatory training set by Medicare.
• Provide evidence of the vaccinations required to undertake frontline emergency work.
• Engage with the Medicare clinician team with routine clinical supervision and appraisals.

Qualifications

The following qualifications are essential for an Emergency Care Assistant:

• FREC qualification level 4.
• Full UK driving licence with no more than 3 penalty points.
• Emergency Driving qualification.
• Recent enhanced DBS with barred list information for adults and children. Please note, you will be required ot undertake a new enhanced DBS with barred list information with Medicare EMS.
• Recent experience undertaking frontline emergency work
• Evidence of professional development is desirable.

Skills, knowledge and abilities

The following skills, knowledge and abilities are essential for an Emergency Care Assistant:

• Experience of dealing with various patient conditions.
• Evidence of a satisfactory level of manual handling training.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
• Self-motivated, team player.
• Demonstrate a high level of manual handling training.
• Flexibility to work varying shift patterns as dictated by service demnad of the contracts.
• Ability to work under pressure with minimum supervision.
• Experience of working as part of a multidisciplinary team.

Personal characteristics

The following skills, knowledge and abilities are essential for an Emergency Care Assistant:

• Approachable, adaptable and caring personality.
• Appreciation of the different needs of individuals with varying degrees of mobility.
• Patient empathy
• Punctuality
• Quality and patient-focused.
• Self-motivated and able to use initiative.