I work for the ambulance service, ask me anything!

Hi I want to know about the training, I heard it is an 18-24 week full on training and you can not have any days off. my question is what if you have a holiday booked but are about to start the training a month or 2 months prior, would you have to cancel your holiday?

Hi I want to know about the training, I heard it is an 18-24 week full on training and you can not have any days off. my question is what if you have a holiday booked but are about to start the training a month or 2 months prior, would you have to cancel your holiday?

Hi
maybe HR can help?
If it was a long holiday ( over a week ) I imagine that would be somewhat difficult to accommodate
They would probably ask you to go on a later course.
I am starting soon and i have a couple of hospital appointments that i need to fit in
best of luck

You would either need to cancel the holiday or rearrange the training.

You can usually have a couple of days off, although we were warned at the start of our course that even sickness might mean we need to restart. But you can't have too much time off because you will miss things. Even if you catch up from the textbook it's not the same as sitting in class. You wouldn't get the benefit of discussion and practical work.

Thank you for your reply. I understand taking substantial time off would not be welcomed but my holiday is literally 5 days sat to wed, so only missing 3 days. i understand the importance of training and its purpose but surely they should implement a week break in middle of course or something.

Why on earth do you get paid so little for what you do. Really don’t want that to come across rude - more of a compliment. You really do so much, i’ve never quite got my head around why paramedics aren’t on near(ish) to a doctor wage! But anyway thanks a lot for what you do

How much do you get paid?

Ambulance technicians are on band 4 in the Agenda For Change payscales, although some services have senior technicians that are band 5. Newly qualified paramedics are band 5, which goes to band 6 after the qualifying period. Some ambulance services have a lower role which is band 3.

As well as this we get paid "unsocial hours", which means we get paid more because we work nights and weekends. For me, this is 25% because 25% of my shifts are unsocial. We also get paid for not being able to take a rest break during the shift. And we never finish on time, so get paid for the overtime that we do.

Hospital appointments are different as they're usually more spread out, so you'll miss one day at a time.

But do be aware that you may need to be signed off by occupational health depending on the reason for the appointment

Have you ever had someone use the ambulance as a taxi?

It is quiet a serious supected conditon but if it needs to be signed I had better give them ample notice then.
thanks

Hello is there any general number what I can call to find out to which hospital the person was admited ?...I don't want to call all hospitals because they not always have time to answer ...Is there general number to call as is urgent the person who I am looking for should have brain operation and I don't have contact with that person a week now ... I want to know if everything is ok ...Thank you

What happens if you notice someone really hurt as you are going towards a called emergency? Do you just leave it and go to the place you were supposed too or do something?

Do you have a question you've always wanted to ask someone who works on a frontline emergency ambulance? Well, now's your chance! Ask anything about treating patients, driving on blue lights, working 12 hour shifts - i'll even tell you what colour my socks are! (black, unfortunately)

I've not seen the show, but all TV programmes are to an extent inaccurate.

We make fun of the fire brigade. They're called "water fairies" (amongst other things). We make jokes about how they sleep all day. But with all the emergency services there's an undercurrent of respect, because we couldn't do what they do.


I'm not a paramedic - I'm an ambulance technician. This essentially means we do the same thing, although we can't give as many drugs and there's a few skills we don't have. To the general public it's seen as the same, and it mostly is - although we get paid even less.

Because it's a 24/7 service, we work shifts. So a "typical day" can start anywhere from 6am to 10pm. This year, I'm working over Christmas and new year. So a typical day might actually be a night. But anyway, you get there early and figure out which vehicle you've been allocated, and who your crewmate is (I only work on ambulance trucks. If you have a car/bicycle/motorbike you don't get a crewmate). You then have to put all your personal kit on the vehicle - we have to carry a change of uniform, our stab vest, our lunch etc with us. Then we get 10 minutes to check over the vehicle to ensure that all equipment is present and working, and also that the vehicle is in a roadworthy condition and has fuel. Most people get in early to do this, because done properly it takes a lot longer than 10 minutes.
Then you discuss with your crewmate what you're doing that day. One person is the attendant, which means they sit in the passenger seat, and they do the paperwork and the main asking questions. The other person is the driver, which means they drive and carry all the equipment. Despite what the Daily Mail would like you to believe, there is no such thing as an "ambulance driver", so even the person driving is still a skilled clinician in their own right.
Then after your 10 minutes is up, you get sent on a job. You get told where you're going (the address), and a brief description of the injury/illness. This is often wrong. The driver drives to the job, and the attendant plays Candy Crush/helps with navigation.
Then you get there and treat the patient. Some patients need to go to hospital, and this can mean carrying them down stairs etc. Others can be left at home, and this means a lot of paperwork. If the patient does go to hospital we have to stay with them until they are onto a hospital bed/chair and the staff have taken responsibility, so with reducing bed numbers and increasing numbers of patients this can often mean long waits. I've waited over 5 hours for a bed before.
Once the patient is left at home or in hospital, we have to clean the ambulance and equipment and restock the bags. If we're lucky, there might be a few minutes to grab some food, bearing in mind the vehicles have trackers so you can't really go anywhere and so it's only what you brought with you.
Then when you're ready you go green available, and get another job and do it all again.

Some days, you might get a lunch break; I've had 3 this year. It is impossible to finish on time, but you always hope to not be too late. At the end of the shift you have to get back to station, unload your personal stuff from the ambulance, and leave it clean and tidy for the next crew. We're paid for 10 minutes at the end of shift for this, but this also takes longer than 10 minutes.