As an Emergency Care Assistant (ECA) you’ll work alongside clinicians responding to 999 calls attending every kind of accident and emergency, sometimes covering considerable distances, under normal and emergency driving conditions to get to the scene as quickly and as safely as possible.

No two shifts will be the same, you might be called out to a road accident victim with multiple severe injuries or to someone who has had a heart attack in a busy shopping centre, you could even be transferring a very sick baby to a specialist centre or dealing with an elderly person who’s fallen down the stairs.

Under the direct supervision of the clinician, you will carry out essential emergency care, such as controlling severe bleeding, treating wounds and fractures and looking after patients with possible spinal injuries. Before you join our frontline operational teams, you will spend your initial weeks in our education centres where you will be thoroughly trained, leaving you feeling well prepared and confident to manage such circumstances.

Based at a local ambulance station as part of a team, you will work shifts, going out in all weathers at all hours, sometimes working in difficult conditions, such as in confined spaces or on a motorway.

As well as your contact with patients, you will also have to deal with relatives and members of the public. In larger or more serious incidents, you will work alongside the police, fire service and other public services.

These are some of the essential criteria you will need to be successful as an Emergency Care Assistant; more detailed criteria are available in the Person Specification for the role:

• A valid UK full B category driving licence and full manual C1 category licence with no more than 3 penalty points. Applications will be accepted with a provisional C1 licence but a full manual C1 category licence must be obtained one month prior to commencement of training
• Maths, English and one other GCSE at grade C or above or equivalent
• Customer / patient-facing experience
• Demonstrable working knowledge of dealing with patients
• Knowledge of the Highway Code (tested at assessment)
• Good communication skills.

To apply, click ‘Find jobs now’ or send your CV to jobs@scas.nhs.uk .  If you have any questions, please call 01869-365000 option 1 for the recruitment team.

Introducing Emergency Care Assistant Toby…

Meet Toby, Toby attended one of our Virtual Recruitment Open Days before joining us as an Emergency Care Assistant.

Prior to working at SCAS Toby was an Operations Manager at a Leisure Centre, part of this role included lifeguarding visitors they had to the swimming pool. Whilst Toby enjoyed his role at the leisure centre he always wanted to join the Ambulance Service – specifically SCAS as he was able to witness (first hand) the care our staff had given to his grandfather when he fell poorly some years ago.

Toby had been thinking about joining the service for a while but needed a nudge to really do something about it, when he saw the Virtual Recruitment Open Day advertised on social media he decided to register for the event to see how he could start pursuing his dream career.

Toby’s thoughts on the Virtual Recruitment Open Day:

‘I really enjoyed getting to know more about the Trust from the event, whilst SCAS do have a jobs website available (scasjobs.co.uk) personally, I felt I gained more of an understanding of the Trust and their roles by listening to the staff directly’.

‘I wasn’t too sure what to expect from the event, but I was really interested in learning all about the training provided within the clinical and driving course. I took lots of notes and used all the hints and tips offered to prepare for my interview and assessment; but the part I particularly enjoyed was hearing from one of the Emergency Care Assistants who was able to give a really good overview to the audience of what it was like doing the role everyday (early starts, late finishes and all the bits in-between)’.    

‘These events can support anyone including: those thinking of applying or those who are awaiting an interview, just email through and watch it all at home on the day – as easy at that’. 

Toby particularly enjoyed the sessions as they were made up of people talking and a few PowerPoint slides, having suffered with dyslexia Toby has found in the past that too much information to read can make it difficult to retain but hearing people talking actually helped him as he was able to capture key pieces of information and use these again at his interview. Toby also appreciated hearing from the Education Team about the support they offer to students with dyslexia.

Toby has followed his aspirations but doesn’t see himself stopping there, Toby has ambitions of becoming a Paramedic in the future and knows this is entirely possible with the new progression routes we have within the Trust. ‘Starting as an ECA gives you a great grounding and understanding of the role’, you are well trained as part of your induction then get to work with some great crew mates out on the road who will help and support you’.

Please keep an eye on our events page for events coming up in the future. Alternatively, click ‘Apply Now’ to start your journey!