NEPTS - Patient Carer, Higher Level Assistant

EMAS Community Response Team; Northampton; On-site; GBP 26,000 - 27,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Full time

Part time

Job share

Flexible working

Term time hours

Job summary

East Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust is advertising a NEPTS Patient Carer, Higher Level Assistant in Northamptonshire. The role supports non-emergency patient transport with a two-person crew, on a flexible schedule including days, nights, weekends and holidays.

Training, use of PDA/iPad, and potential 24-hour rotation are part of the package. The post demands a caring approach, good driving skills, and the ability to complete documentation accurately while upholding EMAS values of respect

Qualifications

• Ability to complete documents accurately and communicate at all levels.
• Experience or aptitude for flexible working arrangements.
• An understanding of ambulance service operations and patient transport basics.

Responsibilities

• Transport high dependency, non-ambulatory patients and escorts safely.
• Ensure patient safety and care during journeys and while on NEPTS vehicles.
• Maintain high standards of professional conduct, dignity and privacy.

Skills

Document accuracy

Communication

Flexibility

Education

GCSEs including English

Full, clean manual driving licence

Job description

NEPTS - Patient Carer, Higher Level Assistant

NHS AfC Band 3

Main area Non Emergency Patient transport Services Grade NHS AfC Band 3 Contract Permanent: Relief Hours

• Full time
• Part time
• Job share
• Flexible working
• Term time hours

37.5 hours per week (Relief working) Job ref 335-A-2101

Site Various station across Northamptonshire Town Northamptonshire Salary £25,760 - £27,476 NHS AFC Band 3 plus Section 2 unsocial enhancements. Salary period Yearly Closing 11/10/2026 23:59

We are East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS), an organisation focused on delivering a high standard of emergency and urgent care to our patients across the region.

The East Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust (EMAS) provides Emergency, Urgent and Non-Emergency pre-hospital care and transport across six counties (Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire, Leicestershire & Rutland and Northamptonshire).

Job overview

East Midlands Ambulance NHS Trust is pleased to advertise this new role within Non-Emergency Patient Transport Services. We provide patient transport services within Derbyshire, Northamptonshire and Lincolnshire and currently have vacancies across Northamptonshire where you will be based on one of our many stations.

Are you looking for a new challenge?
Would you like to join a team that is committed to providing quality patient care? Maybe you aren’t sure what the role involves? Check out our video in the supporting information that will give you an overview of what a typical shift looks like.

Whether you are looking in to a role with us now, or a few months down the line, we are actively recruiting throughout the next 12 months and have planned course dates throughout the year.

Main duties of the job

You must be a motivated and committed person to delivering outstanding care. Your personal values should align to the EMAS values of respect, integrity, compassion, teamwork and competence.

The post holder will be required to transport high dependency, non-ambulatory patients and escorts to and from all points of care in a comfortable, caring, compassionate, emphatic, reassuring and timely manner. You will work to defined standards in order to assist in the provision of an efficient and effective Patient Transport Service.

This will include manual handling of patients, the care of patients and assisting patients as well as driving and route planning. The administration of prescribed oxygen is included.

The patients will have varying mobilities including non-ambulatory and ambulatory patients that may need to be carried (including stairs) using various pieces of equipment including wheeled in a wheelchair, carry chairs, assistance aids or a stretcher and escorted to and from the vehicle. Further duties include assisting patients to walk and administering emergency first-aid.

You will be expected to deliver excellent customer service and care to all healthcare professionals whilst carrying out duties using ambulance service policies and procedures.

Working for our organisation

Our NEPTS Patient Carers, Higher Level assistants work up to 37.5 hours per week across a range of shifts including days, nights, weekends and public holidays. Some of the shift patterns will require you to work a 24-hour rotating pattern.

All roles within NEPTS will require you to use technology such as a PDA and an iPad. During your education period, you will produce workbooks, undertake written and practical assessments and engage in face-to-face and online learning.

Please do not apply for this role if you have recently (within the past two weeks) been invited for an interview/if you have received email confirmation that you have progressed to interview stage. Applicants who been unsuccessful at interview/online assessment for this role, for any of our geographical areas within the past 6 months, will not be considered.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Main responsibilities:

1. To undertake journeys, transporting high dependency, non- ambulatory patients and escorts, including, health care professionals to and from specified locations (points of care) detailed within the journey booking to enable contractual requirements to be met, predominantly as part of a two-person crew. There may however be exceptions where operational needs require solo working.

2. To ensure the safety and well-being of patients at all times whilst in your care both on and off the vehicle and, when driving NEPTS vehicles, to ensure that consideration is given to other road users.

3. To ensure that patients are transferred without any undue delay (and within contractual quality requirements) both within a period of duty and, as necessary, when working over-time after a period of duty. Any updates to patient journey records will be identified and relayed to the Non-Emergency Operations Center (NEOC) as soon as practicable.

4. Ensure that patients are safe and secure at all times whilst left unattended and when escorted and assisted to and from the vehicle.

5. Complete dynamic risk assessments for moving patients safely and advise NEOC of any perceived problems, for example using carry chairs in confined spaces, on stairs, outside steps and uneven road surfaces.

6. Deliver patient care to an appropriate skill level in accordance with the training received and within scope of practice. This will include the administration of prescribed / monitoring of oxygen in accordance with patient booking details and within policy and procedure.

7. To manoeuvre high dependency, non-ambulatory and ambulatory patients, including those classed as bariatric into NEPTS vehicles using either the patients wheelchair or vehicle equipment such as a stretcher, wheelchair, carry chairs and secure both patient and equipment within the vehicle using appropriate equipment as per the training received. The equipment list is not exhaustive and will vary through evolved practices.

8. To have the physical ability to use the equipment provided, this will include the use of all types of carrying equipment such as chairs, stretchers, manual handling aids. This will include risk assessing the best way to undertake moving of patients taking into consideration their medical needs.

9. Ensure that all patients and escorts are safe in the Ambulance vehicle, e.g. seat belts fastened, stretchers and wheelchairs correctly secured.

10. To maintain the highest standards of conduct, patient care, and courtesy in dealing with patients whilst always maintaining their dignity and privacy. To provide demonstration of duties to new staff.

11. To maintain the highest standards of patient care and conduct in dealing with members of the public and other Health Service staff, and, as a representative of the Trust, to seek to promote a high-quality professional service at all times.

12. Provide reassurance to patients whilst making their journey as comfortable and safe as possible and to be observant and knowledgeable to the fact that patients’ health can alter/deteriorate at any given time.

13. To comply at all times with Trust procedures and relevant legislation to ensure an effective service delivery and ensuring the health, safety and welfare of patients and colleagues.

14. To observe situations in relation to patient well-being and safeguarding –including their home environment – and notify any potential problems to the NEOC and the appropriate manager and responsible medical carer.

15. To ensure the timely, accurate and legible completion of operational
documentation.

16. To maintain close liaison with NEOC, advising of any changes to normal routine and procedure including re-planning journeys due to road conditions, adverse weather or patients not ready. Cancellation of bookings or changes in mobility status.

17. Vehicle and equipment is wiped down between patients and at end of shift, ensuring adherence to all Trust Infection Prevention Control Procedures.

18. To maintain vehicles, equipment and premises to defined standards at all times. This will include ensuring that NEPTS vehicles and equipment are in operational readiness (for example, re-fuelled), daily vehicle checks and that any defects are reported. It may also include assistance with house-keeping duties as and when required. Ensure the vehicle has the correct, working communication equipment (PDA), reporting any identified defects using the current reporting procedures.

19. To report any hazardous or dangerous equipment, premises or practices to the appropriate line manager.

20. Report all near miss/incidents immediately through the Trust Incident Reporting Procedure.

21. To undertake all job-related training including online essential education as required to facilitate the provision of a service and then ensuring knowledge of equipment use and procedures is maintained. This will include the Trusts NEPTS driver training course.

22. To adopt a flexible approach in response to operational needs regarding duties, base / location and hours of work.

23. To undertake any other reasonable and appropriate duties as required.

Person specification

Qualification

• 2 GCSEs to include English and one other subject (grade D/3 or above) or a literacy qualification or equivalent or previous experience in this or similar field of work
• Full, clean manual driving licence (including category A – old style licence – or categories B – new style license) – minor offences may be considered, with no more than 3 penalty points in total

Knowledge

• Ability to complete documents accurately.
• Ability to communicate at all levels both in writing and verbally to manage patient data and achieve minimum mandatory requirements
• Possess knowledge of the work of an ambulance service

Experience

• Evidence of a caring approach – for example: paid or unpaid experience in a direct carerelated capacity.
• Demonstrable driving experience (since obtaining full licence).
• Experience of working in care providing environment

Personal Attributes

• Ability and willingness to be flexible with hours and duties to meet the needs of the Service working various shift patterns

The East Midlands has a lot to offer:

Making a Difference

Action Packed Roles

Support and Belonging

Accessibility

If you have any accessibility requirements at any point during the recruitment process, then please contact the recruiting manager.

If you haven’t heard back from us within eight weeks of the closing date please consider your application unsuccessful.

Due to the high volume of applications received we are unable to provide updates on the progress of applications and only successful candidates at shortlisting stage will be contacted, regrettably feedback will not be provided. If you are unsuccessful at this stage please refer back to the job description, person specification and advertised requirements for ways to improve your future applications.

Internal candidates applying for vacancies must have completed their probationary period (stated within your contract) at point of application.

East Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust is an equal opportunities and Disability Confident employer,committed to ensuring equality of opportunity. We actively encourage interest from across our diverse communities. Black and Minority Ethnic staff are currently under-represented within our workforce, and we welcome applications from within these communities.

We are keen to promote a positive work-life balance. We recognise the importance of being able to spend quality time with family and friends and to engage in your own personal interests outside of work, which alongside work helps us to lead healthy and fulfilling lives. We are committed to embedding the NHS People Promise to support colleagues to work flexibly in a way that works for our patients, for us and for you. Many of our staff already work flexibly in many different ways, including job share, part-time or other flexible working patterns. Please talk openly to us at interview about flexible working opportunities. In addition, if a role is advertised as home based, we remain committed to supporting flexibility around workplace locations, so please talk to us about the options available to you. If it works for our service, we will do our best to make it work for you.

At EMAS we believe that our culture should be built upon our core values and that our behaviour should reflect these. Our values – respect, integrity, contribution, teamwork and compassion - underpin everything we do – how we deliver our services and how we work with each other. We believe that it’s our people who make EMAS what it is.

Our Vision -Respondingto patient needs in the right way,developingour organisation to become outstanding for patients and staff, andcollaboratingto improve wider healthcare.

Please note we reserve the right to withdraw this vacancy if an internal member of staff on our redeployment register expresses an interest and is successful for this vacancy, or if a sufficient number of applications is received.

Please be aware if you are applying for a Frontline role, an Enhanced DBS clearance check will be required, and depending on the nature of other non-patient facing roles this check may also be required if offered a position with EMAS (Al l spent and unspent convictions must declared).

If you are not part of the update service, you will be liable for the payment and this will be deducted from your first months’ salary. The current cost of an enhanced DBS check is £55.38.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Name Richard Holmes Job title Performance Delivery Manager - Northamptonshire Email address [e-mail]

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