NHS 111 Call Handler (part time) - Crawley: SECAmb

NHS 111 Call Handler (part time) - Crawley

 

South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SECAmb) has a vision to ‘support our staff to provide a caring, high quality and efficient urgent and emergency care service to our communities’. We are rated ‘Good’ overall by the Care Quality Commission, ‘Outstanding’ for Caring and ‘Outstanding’ for our Urgent and Emergency Care. Our aim is to continually improve and to reach outstanding across all areas of the Trust.

Our 4,000+ workforce provide services to 4.9m people across Kent, Surrey, Sussex and North East Hampshire. We handle over 1 million calls to 999 and 1 million calls to NHS 111 every year. More information regarding our services and locations can be found on our website.

Job overview

Ordinary people doing extraordinary things...every day.

Our 999 and 111 Call Handlers are people just like you: people who have come to us from all walks of life, from different backgrounds and age groups, people who all have the same things in common.

* Our 999 and 111 Call Handlers are all caring and empathetic.

* They all have great communication skills and love talking to people.

* They're all happy and able to work flexibly.

* They all love making a difference to people's lives.

We have opportunities now to join Team SECAmb and be the first person our patients speak to when they call 999 for an emergency or 111 when it's urgent or they just need advice and support.

We will provide full training in a warm, friendly environment in one of three locations: Crawley, Coxheath or Ashford. In addition to a competitive salary you will benefit from Unsocial Hours pay enhancements and access to the generous NHS Pension Scheme, plus 35 days’ annual leave inclusive of Bank Holidays (pro rata).

Please note; you will be required to sit for a skills assessment as part of the interview process.

 

Main duties of the job

The role of a SECAmb Call Handler

When you ring 111 or 999, your call goes through to a call handler based in one of our 3 Emergency Operation/Contact Centres. These staff are trained to use the NHS Pathways system to provide assistance in a variety of situations, from minor illness to life threatening situations.  The assistance you will provide will range from offering lifesaving advice whilst an ambulance is on route, to directing callers to other more suitable services.

This role can be demanding, challenging and ultimately very rewarding however, it's not for everyone.  Applicants will need to have a range of skills to be able to deal with often stressful and emotional situations, whilst also demonstrating compassion and empathy to all callers, no matter what the situation. 

 

Working for our organisation

Why Work At South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust?

We offer:

• Base Salary - Band 3 - £20,330 - £21,777 per annum (full time 37.5hrs per week)
• Hours available – 15, 20, 24, 30 and 37.5 hours per week
• Unsocial hours enhancements in accordance to NHS Terms & Conditions Agenda for Change Section 2 (typical FTE salary range c£20,330 - £25,412 inclusive of unsocial enhancements for evenings, weekends and bank holidays)
• Generous NHS Pension Scheme
• 35 days’ annual leave inclusive of Bank Holidays (pro rata)

• As we are a 24/7 service, this role will involve working a varied shift pattern including earlies, lates and weekends. Please note that it is a requirement to work 3 out of 4 weekends. Please give this consideration before making your application

Progression Opportunities

We offer excellent training and career development opportunities for ambitious employees both within the Call/Emergency Operations Centres and also within the wider Trust.

 

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Applicant Requirements

Successful applicants will demonstrate high levels of personal commitment to facilitate the delivery of a patient focused service.

We need individuals who have the drive and passion to make a difference to people’s lives, but also the personal resilience to work in a high-pressured environment.

You will need to be able to work well within a team and independently, have fast/accurate typing skills and a good standard of education.  Successful candidates must possess GCSE Maths and English (or equivalent qualifications) at Grade C or above (2018 Grade 4).

This role is suited to people who remain calm under pressure, good at problem solving and have excellent interpersonal skills, with an empathetic nature.

Our comprehensive training programme:

• Between 6-10 weeks (7.5 hours per day unless otherwise stated)
• Is full time, even for part time applicants
• Has a ‘must’ attend policy, with no annual leave being permitted during this period.
• Can be social or unsocial (details/options provided once successful at application)
• Comprises of classroom and observing and mentoring periods within the working environment.
• Is designed to fully support full transition to call handling independently.

Further Information

All successful applicants will be required to undertake an Enhanced DBS check for adults and children.

Our courses are in high demand and we only have limited capacity per course, we do receive large amounts of applications, therefore we cannot offer every application an interview.

This role does have a requirement as per Public Health England Infection Prevention and Control guidelines that all NHS staff are required to wear a mask and follow social distancing guidelines in all clinical and non-clinical areas. Therefore, face covering exemptions are not applicable within the workplace. Please take this into consideration before applying.

Person specification Qualifications/ Training Essential criteria

• Educated to GCSE or Functional Skills level and possesses a fundamental level of Maths, English and ICT skills OR Evidence within previous employment that they have used Maths and English to GCSE level or higher

Experience Essential criteria

• Previous experience working and communicating with the public
• Ability to communicate with a variety of different people and build rapport

Desirable criteria

• Experience of working in a computer based role - strong IT skills
• Previous experience working in a team or with stakeholders across a range of settings

Following the revision of current national legislation (Vaccine as a Condition of Deployment), the Trust has reviewed our requirements relating to staff uptake of the SARS-COV-2 (COVID-19) vaccination.

Going forward, for patient facing positions, we strongly recommend that new starters will be appropriately vaccinated unless medically exempt in order to offer greater protection against exposure to the virus for front line staff.

In line with this recommendation, if you are successful in your application for a front line post, we will seek information from you in relation to your vaccine status, including exemption status, as applicable.