More skills for ambulance staff

Transforming the ambulance service continued this week with the start of a third training course to further people’s frontline careers.  

Around 200 emergency care assistants (ECAs) applied for six-week courses to take the next clinical career step to become emergency medical technicians (EMTs) at the East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust (EEAST). In total, 60 ECAs will undergo the rigorous training this year, and the third group of 12 took to the classroom on Monday (30^th June) at Luton Ambulance Station.

The candidates faced a tough application process to get on the training which, among other areas, will look at specific conditions and administering drugs to enable the trainees to work independently.

Trust Chief Executive Dr Anthony Marsh said: “Training and developing our staff is an absolute priority. Giving our staff more skills, and recruiting hundreds of new student paramedics, will mean that we can deliver even better care to patients. Our staff do a fantastic job, often in very challenging circumstances, and I want to give them as much support as possible.”

Training ECAs to become EMTs is one of the six priorities the Trust is focusing on and this is the second course to be run this year.  In January, the first 15 ECAs started their training in Melbourn, Cambs and are now working on ambulances in their new roles and a further 11 ECAs completed their training last month in Stansted, Essex. This follows the delivery of 147 new ambulances to the frontline a month ahead of schedule and the first 97, out of 400, student paramedics starting their training with the Trust.

For more recruitment opportunities visit the EEAST website.