Dozens of new recruits join Welsh Ambulance Service
Monday, 07 July, 2014
THE Welsh Ambulance Service has recruited more than 80 extra staff into its workforce.
The candidates have been offered roles in the Trust’s Emergency Medical Service, Urgent Care Service, Patient Care Service and NHS Direct Wales following a large-scale, all Wales recruitment drive.
Most embarked on their official duties in June, while others will go operational later in the year.
Nineteen initiates are preparing to join the Patient Care Service, which provides non-emergency transport to routine hospital appointments for 4,000 patients a day in England and Wales.
Staff will undergo training in basic life support, moving and handling, customer care and specialist driving, and will operate from Dobshill, Wrexham, Rhyl, Denbigh, Colwyn Bay and Bangor in North Wales.
Steve Williams, Locality Manager for Conwy and Denbighshire, who helped lead the recruitment process, said: “We are pleased to welcome these new staff on board, and look forward to strengthening our dedicated teams across North Wales and further improving our service to patients.”
Meanwhile, 24 recruits are gearing up to join the Urgent Care Service, crews trained to care for and transport urgent and non-urgent patients who require basic care, such as pain relief on their journey to hospital.
All of the new recruits will be trained at the Trust’s training facility in Cefn Coed, Swansea, and will work across Wales.
Assessments are currently underway to recruit a further 26 people into the Urgent Care Service.
Six Nurse Advisers have also been appointed at NHS Direct Wales, the health advice and information service available twenty four hours a day, every day, when someone is feeling ill and is unsure what to do.
The service joined the Welsh Ambulance Service in April 2007, and is staffed by Call Handlers, Health Information Advisers, Nurse Advisers and Dental Health Advisers who offer confidential advice about health, illness and the NHS.
The new Nurse Advisers will work from NHS Direct Wales’ Clinical Contact Centre in Bangor.
It follows the appointment of four Nurse Advisers and five Call Handlers at Swansea’s Clinical Contact Centre earlier this year, and coincides with the recruitment of more Dental Health Advisers, also in Swansea.
Iwan Griffiths, Clinical Manager at NHS Direct Wales, said: “We are pleased to welcome the new nurses to NHS Direct Wales. They will integrate into the service, ensuring callers are advised on the most appropriate care for their needs.”
Nine Emergency Medical Service Call Takers have also been recruited in the Trust’s Clinical Contact Centre in Cwmbran and five have been recruited in the Clinical Contact Centre in Llangunnor, and all are due to be operational by August.
In addition, five Patient Care Service controllers and planners will have also been recruited in Cwmbran by the end of August.
Finally, 23 paramedics across Wales are preparing to join the Emergency Medical Service, nine of which went operational in June and 14 of which are scheduled to start in September.
A number of HEI (Higher Education Institute) paramedics, due to graduate in July, are also expected to be operational from December.
In 2011, the Trust launched its five-year modernisation and clinical transformation programme Working Together for Success, and pledged to recruit, train and retain the right staff, in the right roles and with the right skills.
The Welsh Ambulance Service employs more than 3,000 staff across Wales and is supported by more than 3,000 volunteers, including Community First Responders and Ambulance Car Service drivers.
Search for ‘Vacancies’ at www.ambulance.wales.nhs.uk if you would like to work for the Welsh Ambulance Service.
