Paramedic

Job responsibilities

The main responsibility of the paramedic team is to conduct visits to house bound patients living in their own home or in a care home, in a way that supports the best use of available resources. This will predominantly be for acute and chronic illness, and for proactive care for moderately frail patients. Dependent on experience this may also include your own clinic(s) at the practice for acute presentations. Experience in a primary care setting is desirable, not essential, with induction and training supported by the Practice.

To thrive in this role, you will enjoy all aspects of patient care and working in the community with lots of patient contact. All candidates must have the qualifications and technical experience required as detailed in the person specification.

• Assess, diagnose and treat patients (over 16 years of age) for a range of acute, and chronic medical conditions as appropriate.
• Make careful clinical judgements eg first contact with patients presenting acutely and manage care in the presence and absence of protocols.
• Conduct home visits to the housebound in the community.
• Conduct weekly ward rounds for care homes, liaising with GPs as appropriate.
• Make decisions where precedents do not exist, where appropriate without recourse to others e.g. directly admit patients you have seen to secondary care hospital in acute medical need.
• Refer patients you have seen to other members of the multidisciplinary team, secondary care and to other statutory and voluntary organisations as appropriate, including referral for x-ray.
• Interpret a range of diagnostic tests and routine clinical procedures, informing or referring to a GP as appropriate.
• Work with patients, and their families as appropriate, on anticipatory care (if not under register for the Proactive Care team) through to end of life support.
• Work within professional boundaries, guidelines and codes of conduct.
• Work within all relevant practice policies and procedural guidelines e.g. infection control, chaperoning, risk management and support improvements to service delivery.
• Undertake extended and supplementary prescribing, providing you have the necessary qualifications.
• Communicate highly sensitive condition related information to patients, relatives and carers.
• Initiate the process of diagnosis with patients suspected to have a chronic disease eg. diabetes, COPD, asthma, IHD referring to other clinical staff as appropriate.
• Contribute to Practice targets both local and national within the disease management agenda eg QOF, prescribing incentive scheme, and support the review and management of disease registers.
• Support vaccination programmes (flu and Covid) for housebound patients.
• Audit outcomes of care against standards and initiate changes as necessary.
• Undertake annual review of patients understanding and ability to self-manage, and medication reviews (if qualified to do so).
• Actively implement safeguarding protocols for vulnerable adults and know who to refer to and how to escalate concerns.
• Make effective use of the clinical system by ensuring the consistent and accurate entering of data and use of Read Codes.

Qualifications

Essential

• Health & Care Professions Council (HCPC) registration.
• Degree/diploma level in paramedicine.
• A full UK driving licence is required.

Desirable

• Prescribing qualification.

Experience

Essential

• Completed two-year consolidation learning period as a newly qualified paramedic & has a further 3 years experience at Band 6 paramedic.
• Working towards developing masters level or equivalent capability in paramedic areas of practice, and within 6 months of commencement of reimbursement has completed and been signed off formally within the clinical pillar competencies of the paramedic FCP/AP roadmap to practice.
• Have experience of working to protocols / guidelines and patient groups / patient specific directives.
• Excellent clinical skills.
• Good keyboard skills & Microsoft office.

Desirable

• Experience in a primary care setting.
• Previous knowledge of SystmOne.

Skills and Abilities

Essential

• Ability to manage time and workload effectively.
• Excellent attention to detail.
• Develops own knowledge and practice to meet objectives/changes in service, through attendance on study days, self-directed learning and reflection on practice.
• Integrates theory into practice and establishes formal links with educational institutions.
• Operates high standards of probity.

Qualities & Attributes

Essential

• Have the ability to make clear decisions with confidence and communicate these effectively.
• Excellent communication skills across the range of stakeholders and patients.
• Enthusiastic and adaptable to change.

Other requirements

Essential

• Work autonomously / accountable for own professional actions.
• Makes operational judgements, manages conflicting views and reconciles inter and intra professional differences of opinion.
• Builds and communicates therapeutic working relationships with a wide array of statutory and voluntary organisations for the benefit of patient care and facilitates good working relationships.
• Partakes in clinical supervision for own development.

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).