Our paramedic teams in Kent, Sussex and Surrey are committed to delivering our Trust objective to provide a first class, pre-hospital, emergency and urgent health care service to ensure our patients get the right level of care, first time and, where appropriate, avoid an unnecessary hospital visit.
With a wide scope to deliver excellent care, you will be expected to make decisions on your feet while providing first-class treatment, in what are often very emotional and challenging circumstances.
People are the job so you need to enjoy interacting, have great communication skills, compassion and empathy. For many patients you are stepping into often crucial and life-changing times in their lives.
As a Newly Qualified Paramedic you will be enrolled into a Clinical Preceptorship Programme which is designed to support you as you consolidate the skills gained as a student paramedic, whilst working as an autonomous clinician. Our Transition to Practice course will help you launch your career as a paramedic, and we will ensure that your initial shifts will be working alongside another experienced paramedic to provide any initial support and advice you may need.
As you move through your preceptorship, you will work to a supportive scope of practice allowing you to gain confidence in your clinical decision making whilst retaining access to additional clinical support as required.
Finally, we offer seven paid training days per year, in addition to any statutory training requirements, in order to support your ongoing professional development.
Lucy Tyrrell moved to Kent from Northamptonshire to study for her BSc Hons in Paramedic Science at the University of Greenwich and got so hooked she never went back.
Her three-year placement at the “absolutely lovely” Medway campus and South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust led to job offers from SECAmb and an ambulance service closer to home, but when crunch time came she decided she couldn’t leave Kent or her adopted Trust.
“University was a great experience and my practice placement shifts played a huge role in making it so positive,” said Lucy. “The Trust and their staff were all really supportive and made me believe it was a place where I would like to stay and work.”
As a Newly Qualified Paramedic at SECAmb, Lucy responds to 999 and 111 calls in Kent in a double-crewed ambulance. The job requires emergency response driving, good interpersonal and communication skills, decisiveness and a sound knowledge of clinical protocols and emergency treatments.
Lucy wants to develop as a paramedic before moving onto anything else but acknowledges there are many opportunities for progression within the service.
“There are managerial and leadership training courses, operational roles in Control (within SECAmb’s two Emergency Operations Centres where 999 and 111 calls are received and assessed) and opportunities to specialise in urgent and clinical care in Paramedic Practitioner or Critical Care Paramedic roles.
“Also, there are not many other services in the country who have Critical Care Paramedics reserved for those category one emergencies where a patient needs a high level of roadside medical attention, outside of an air ambulance intervention.”
For Lucy, Kent is now home and SECAmb is a great place to learn on the job while developing a long-term paramedic career.