Paramedic

Job responsibilities

In addition to the primary responsibilities, the Paramedic may be requested to:

a. Undertake overall management of a clinical team, providing guidance when necessary, acting as a mentor to students and newly qualified staff

b. Maintain an effective clinical staff rota ensuring all clinics are staffed appropriately

c. Participate in local initiatives to enhance service delivery and patient care

d. Support and participate in shared learning within the PCN

e. Continually review clinical practices, responding to national policies and initiatives where appropriate

f. Participate in the review of significant and near-miss events applying a structured approach i.e., root cause analysis (RCA)

g. Commensurate with their role, support the development of clinical services within the PCN, liaising with external agencies as required

All staff have a duty to conform to the following:

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

A good attitude and positive action towards Equality Diversity & Inclusion (ED&I) creates an environment where all individuals can achieve their full potential. Creating such an environment is important for three reasons it improves operational effectiveness, it is morally the right thing to do and it is required by law.

Patients and their families have the right to be treated fairly and be routinely involved in decisions about their treatment and care. They can expect to be treated with dignity and respect and will not be discriminated against on any grounds including age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion, or belief, sex, or sexual orientation.

Patients have a responsibility to treat other patients and our staff with dignity and respect.

Staff have the right to be treated fairly in recruitment and career progression. Staff can expect to work in an environment where diversity is valued, and equality of opportunity is promoted. Staff will not be discriminated against on any grounds including age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion, or belief, sex, or sexual orientation. Staff have a responsibility to ensure that they treat our patients and their colleagues with dignity and respect.

Safety, Health, Environment and Fire (SHEF)

This PCN is committed to supporting and promoting opportunities for staff to maintain their health, wellbeing, and safety.

The post holder is to manage and assess risk within their areas of responsibility, ensuring adequate measures are in place to protect staff and patients, and monitor work areas and practices to ensure they are safe and free from hazards and conform to health, safety and security legislation, policies, procedures, and guidelines.

All personnel have a duty to take reasonable care of health and safety at work for themselves, their team, and others and to cooperate with employers to ensure compliance with health and safety requirements.

All personnel are to comply with the:

Health and Safety at Work Act 1974

Environmental Protection Act 1990

Environment Act 1995

Fire Precautions (workplace) Regulations 1999

Other statutory legislation which may be brought to the post holders attention

Confidentiality

The PCN is committed to maintaining an outstanding confidential service. Patients entrust and permit us to collect and retain sensitive information relating to their health and other matters pertaining to their care. They do so in confidence and have a right to expect that all staff will always respect their privacy and maintain confidentiality.

It is essential that, if the legal requirements are to be met and the trust of our patients is to be retained, all staff must protect patient information and provide a confidential service.

Quality and Continuous Improvement (CI)

To preserve and improve the quality of the PCNs output, all personnel are required to think not only of what they do, but how they achieve it. By continually re-examining our processes, we will be able to develop and improve the overall effectiveness of the way we work.

The responsibility for this rests with everyone working within the PCN, to look for opportunities to improve quality and share good practice, and to discuss, highlight and work with the team to create opportunities to improve patient care.

Our PCN continually strive to improve work processes that deliver healthcare with improved results across all areas of our service provision. We promote a culture of continuous improvement where everyone counts, and staff are permitted to make suggestions and contributions to improve our service delivery and enhance patient care.

Staff should interpret national strategies and policies into local implementation strategies that are aligned to the values and culture of general practice.

All staff are to contribute to investigations and root cause analyses whilst participating in serious incident investigations and multidisciplinary case reviews.

Induction

We will provide a full induction programme and management will support you throughout the process.

Learning and development

The effective use of training and development is fundamental to ensuring that all staff are equipped with the appropriate skills, knowledge, attitude, and competences to perform their role. All staff will be required to partake in and complete mandatory training as directed. It is an expectation for this post holder to assess their own learning needs and undertake learning as appropriate

The post holder will undertake mentorship for team members, and disseminate learning and information gained to other team members, to share good practice and inform others about current and future developments (e.g., courses and conferences).

Collaborative working

All staff are to recognise the significance of collaborative working, understand their own role and scope, and identify how this may develop over time. Staff are to prioritise their own workload and ensure effective time-management strategies are embedded within the culture of the team.

Teamwork is essential in multidisciplinary environments, and the post holder is to work as an effective and responsible team member, supporting others and exploring the mechanisms to develop new ways of working, while working effectively with others to clearly define values, direction and policies impacting upon care delivery

Effective communication is essential and all staff must ensure they communicate in a way which enables the sharing of information in an appropriate manner.

All staff should delegate clearly and appropriately, adopting the principles of safe practice and assessment of competence.

Plans and outcomes by which to measure success should be agreed.

Managing information

All staff should use technology and appropriate software as an aid to management in the planning, implementation and monitoring of care, and presenting and communicating information.

Data should be reviewed and processed using accurate SNOMED/read codes to ensure easy and accurate information retrieval for monitoring and audit processes.

Service delivery

Staff will be given detailed information during the induction process regarding policy and procedure.

The post holder must adhere to the information contained within the PCN/practice directives, ensuring protocols are always adhered to.

Security

The security of the PCN is the responsibility of all personnel. The post holder must ensure they always remain vigilant and report any suspicious activity immediately to their line manager.

Under no circumstances are staff to share the codes for the door locks with anyone, and they are to ensure that restricted areas remain effectively secured. Likewise, password controls are to be maintained and passwords are not to be shared.

Professional conduct

All staff are required to dress appropriately for their role.

Personal Qualities

Essential

• Ability to listen, empathise with people and provide person centred support in a non-judgemental way
• Courteous, respectful and helpful at all times
• Able to get along with people from all backgrounds and communities, respecting lifestyles and diversity
• Commitment to reducing health inequalities and proactively working to reach people from all communities
• Able to support people in a way that inspires trust and confidence, motivating others to reach their potential
• Ability to use own initiative, discretion and sensitivity
• Ability to work on own initiative
• Ability to communicate complex and sensitive information effectively with people at all levels by telephone, email and face to face
• Ability to identify risk and assess/manage risk when working with individuals
• High levels of integrity and loyalty
• Ability to deal with non-routine and unpredictable nature of the workload and individual patient contact
• Ability to take part in reflective practice and clinical supervision activities
• Knowledge of when to seek advice and refer to a registered care professional
• Ability to maintain effective working relationships and to promote collaborative practice with all colleagues
• Demonstrate personal accountability, emotional resilience and work well under pressure
• Ability to organise, plan and prioritise on own initiative, including when under pressure and meeting deadlines
• High level of written and oral communication skills
• Knowledge of and ability to work to policies and procedures, including confidentiality, safeguarding, lone working, information governance, and health and safety

Experience

Essential

• Completed their two-year Consolidation of Learning period when a newly qualified paramedic
• Completed a further three years experience as a band 6 (or equivalent) paramedic
• Attained Level 7 capability in paramedic areas of practice
• It should be noted that when a PCN employs or engages a Paramedic to work in primary care under the ARRS scheme:
• Should the Paramedic not be able to demonstrate working at Masters level or equivalent capability in paramedic areas of practice or equivalent (such as advanced assessment diagnosis and treatment), the PCN must ensure that each Paramedic is working as part of a rotational model in which they have access to regular supervision and support from clinicians signed off at clinical practice Masters level or equivalent.
• Completed and been signed off formally within the clinical pillar competencies of the Advanced Clinical Practice Framework.

Desirable

• Experience of working in a primary care environment

Qualifications

Essential

• Educated to degree level in paramedicine or equivalent experience
• Registered with the Health and Care Professionals Council as a Paramedic
• Working towards developing Level 7 capability in paramedic areas of practice and, within six months of the commencement of reimbursement for that individual (or a longer time period as agreed with the commissioner), has completed and been signed off formally within the clinical pillar competencies of the Advanced Clinical Practice Framework

Other Requirements

Essential

• Willingness to work flexible hours when required to meet work demands
• Disclosure Barring Service (DBS) check
• Good clinical IT system knowledge
• Access to own transport and ability to travel across the locality on a regular basis, including to visit people in their own home
• Clear polite telephone manner

Desirable

• Knowledge of IT systems, including ability to use word processing skills, emails and the internet to create simple plans and reports
• Has previously worked in a primary care setting or a PCN

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.

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).