Health Advisor - Call Taker (111/999) - North Region

North East Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust

This job is now closed

Job summary

We are expanding, come and grow with us! Do you have excellent listening skills, enjoy solving problems and genuinely want to make a difference in the lives of others? If so, join our army of life-savers as a Health Advisor taking 999 and 111 calls. Being a Health Advisor is challenging but very rewarding as you can directly help those most in need. You will work as part of a close-knit team of people who have a passion for helping those in crisis, where no two days are the same. You don’t need any medical knowledge, and full training in managing calls and use of our systems will be provided.

This role could be the first step of a great career in healthcare and can give you the knowledge to go even further. In this role you will:

• Ask questions in a way which can help assess a caller’s needs in a pressurised environment, where time is of the essence.

• Manage calls supported by a computerised medical assessment tool, to help give patients the most appropriate care response. This could range from an ambulance in life-threatening emergencies, through to a GP appointment, dentist appointment, or referring the patient to a range of community-based services, such as a walk-in-center.

Please ensure that you have read the shift pattern document attached before applying. As a 24/7/365 service, you will be expected to work Bank Holidays including Christmas. Any Bank Holidays worked will be added to your holiday allowance.

Main duties of the job

As a Health Advisor for the NHS 111 service you will be the first point of contact with patients, healthcare professionals and other callers. Working within one of our Operations Centre located at Wynyard, you will use NHS pathways to record patients’ demographics and clinical information to assess their condition to ensure they are directed to the most appropriate healthcare professional or service.

You will provide basic advice and health information to patients calling 111, supporting callers to access the appropriate level of care.

Whilst you will be trained initially to handle 111 calls, over the next 12 months it is expected that you will be given additional skills, via a career progression programme, to enable you to handle 999 Emergency calls. All of our Health Advisors are expected to take both types of calls.

N.B. Although your base will be at Winter House Wynyard, your training for the role will be held at one of our training locations in Newcastle.

On occasion you may be required to work from one of our alternative sites, to enable the Trust to fulfil its obligations

About us

We employ 3,500 staff in 63 locations and serve a population of 2,600,000 in Northumberland, Tyne & Wear, County Durham, and Tees over 3230 square miles.

Many people think the job of the ambulance service is to collect patients and take them to hospital, but we do much more!

Paramedic skills have developed hugely in recent years, meaning we carry out more treatment at the scene and en-route to hospital.

We have a dedicated clinical assessment service that allows us to provide patients with the most appropriate care from the beginning of the patient journey.

We have a specialised branch of the Trust called HART which deal with explosions or terrorist attacks.

Ultimately patients are the heart of everything that we do to support our mission of "safe, effective and responsive care for all".

We value and respect the diversity employees bring to our workplace. We recruit a workforce that reflects the community we serve, and welcome applications from people from all backgrounds. To ensure we deliver on our aims in relation to diversity and inclusion we assess ourselves against a range of frameworks. We are ENEI Gold employer, Disability Confident Leader, Dyslexia Smart Award employer, Dementia Friendly, and part of Mind Blue Light programme and the Race at Work Charter from the Princes Responsible Business Network and are achieving across all objectives in NHS Equality Delivery System.

Date posted

28 October 2022

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 3

Salary

£21,730 to £23,177 a year plus up to 29% unsocial hours payment depending on rota

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Full-time, Part-time

Reference number

C9340-HA-11-22N

Job locations

Bernicia House

Goldcrest Way

NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE

Newcastle upon Tyne

NE15 8NY

Monkton Industrial Estate

Hebburn

Tyne and Wear

NE31 2JZ

Job description

Job responsibilities

Please ensure you take a look at the job description attached for full details of duties and responsibilities.

Job description

Job responsibilities

Please ensure you take a look at the job description attached for full details of duties and responsibilities.

Person Specification

Experience

Essential

Evidence of undertaking additional training and a willingness to learn.
Ability to demonstrate resilience by remaining calm under pressure, the ability to juggle priorities when dealing with emergency situations and to make sound decisions.

Qualifications

Essential

3 GCSE at Grade C or equivalent including English or higher qualification in any area, or previous experience of call answering in an extremely busy or stressful environment.

Person Specification

Experience

Essential

Evidence of undertaking additional training and a willingness to learn.
Ability to demonstrate resilience by remaining calm under pressure, the ability to juggle priorities when dealing with emergency situations and to make sound decisions.

Qualifications

Essential

3 GCSE at Grade C or equivalent including English or higher qualification in any area, or previous experience of call answering in an extremely busy or stressful environment.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.