Ambulance UK April 2024

NEWSLINE
NEWSLINE
AMBULANCE UK – APRIL
• East Midlands Immediate
Care Scheme
• MERS Accident and Rescue
(Midlands)
• North East Immediate Care
Scheme
• North Staffordshire BASICS
• North West Pre-Hospital
Critical Care Charity
• Suffolk Emergency Medical
Charity
• Swift Medics (Wiltshire,
Swindon and Bristol)
• SCAS BASICS (Hampshire)
• West Yorkshire Medical
Response Team
Tony Kemp, Chief Officer of
the British Association for
Immediate Care, says:
“As volunteers, our teams have
little time to dedicate to the
essential task of fundraising,
neither do they have the skillsets
and experience. The annual HELP
Appeal donations are an absolute
lifeline providing much needed
vehicle, training and specialist
equipment to our volunteer 999
responders. Today, critical and
enhanced care as provided by
BASICS responders is much more
costly as it requires much more
advanced specialist equipment
both for the patient’s benefit and
to keep our volunteers safe and
well prepared for their role.”
Robert Bertram, Chief
Executive of the HELP
Appeal adds:
“Thanks to our supporters’
generosity, we have been able
to focus on saving time and
lives by enabling grants to be
made to these incredible teams
of medical volunteers who help
in emergency incidents – often
being first on the scene to treat
a critically ill patient. The new
equipment and PPE that will be
purchased, can only strengthen
their services across the country
helping to save even more lives.”
Mersey Care
becomes first NHS
Trust to eliminate
Hepatitis C for more
than six months
The team, based at Brook
Place in Liverpool, has now
been free of Hepatitis C within
their service users for the
last eight months. It’s a virus
which can cause serious and
potentially life-threatening
damage to the liver and is
particularly common among
more deprived communities,
including those who have a
history of substance abuse.
They reached such a consistency
by testing almost everyone
registered with the service, no
matter what risks they have
been exposed to, and regularly
reviewing their risk status and
date of their last test.
“All our Brook Place staff
have been retrained on Hep
C understanding, testing and
offering harm reduction advice
and risk of re-infection prevention
information,” explained Hayley
Curran, Recovery Co-ordinator
at Brook Place. “That includes
giving out safe needle exchange
cards that we created and
offering advice on not sharing
equipment like toothbrushes,
razors and pipes.
“It’s a remarkable achievement
and has taken a lot of hard work
from everyone who works in the
team. We know the virus is at its
lowest levels in this country for 10
years, but the discipline required
to eliminate it from our service
users for eight months is really
exceptional.”
Maintaining the elimination of
Hep C has been a collaborative
approach with Gilead Sciences,
Hepatitis C U Later, the Hepatitis
C Trust and Mersey Care’s
Operational Delivery Network
nurse, who is based at the
Royal site of Liverpool University
Hospital. The joined up approach
has proved vital in providing the
best standard of care to patients.
According to the latest figures
provided by the UK Health
Security Agency (UKHSA) last
year, Hepatitis C is most common
among some of the most
deprived areas in the country,
so eliminating the virus helps
towards Mersey Care’s aim of
reducing health inequalities.
This helps improve the service
users’ physical health and
increases positive outcomes,
which also aids their recovery
from substance abuse by
becoming more in control of their
health and care provided.
The highly specialist team at
Brook Place also provide a wide
variety of services and are not,
despite common belief, just
a substitute prescriber. They
provide a recovery focused
service to people living in
Liverpool who have problems
using opiates and deliver
clinics for Chronic Obstructive
Pulmonary Disease (COPD),
Spirometry testing, Hep C testing,
sexual health and wound care.
NHS apprenticeship
‘truly changed
my life’
A former greengrocer has
described how an NHS
apprenticeship “truly changed”
his life and set him on the path
to becoming a nurse.
At the start of National
Apprenticeship Week, Steven
Jewell, aged 42, who left school
at 15 with no qualifications,
told how he recently completed
the Registered Nursing Degree
Apprenticeship and now works at
Lancashire and South Cumbria
NHS Foundation Trust.
After a range of jobs, including
owning a greengrocer shop, he
changed careers and joined the
NHS as a healthcare support
worker, before starting his
apprenticeship.
The NHS is the nation’s biggest
trainer of apprentices, with more
than 20,000 starting last year.
Apprentices are a crucial part of
the NHS Long Term Workforce
Plan and NHS England aims to
triple the number being trained by
2030, so they make up more than
one in five new recruits.
Steven said: “Without the
apprenticeship, I would never
have been able to go to university
or be in the position I am today.
At nearly 40, being afforded the
opportunity to earn a salary while
taking a degree level course with
blended work-placed learning,
truly changed my life.
“The apprentice route has
enabled me to go from
greengrocer to registered
mental health nurse in just over
four years. I am now in a job I
love, helping other people, as
well as changing my life for the
better. Don’t ever think you are
too old or not smart enough.
Apprenticeships provide all of us
with equal opportunities to our
peers, and enable us to change
course in life - we just have to
want it.”
Apprenticeships offer routes into
many of the more than 350 NHS
careers, meaning people can
“earn while they learn” - working
for their local NHS, but without
having to go to university first.
This includes a range of higher
or degree apprenticeships
(equivalent to foundation, full
Bachelor’s or Master’s degrees),
including nursing.
And the Medical Doctor Degree
Apprenticeship pilot, due to
be launched this year, is the
first of its kind in the world and
an important step forward in
helping to attract a wider range
of candidates to medicine. It will
initially be delivered with three
Higher Education Institutes.
NHS apprenticeships also include
a variety of entry-level roles
including support staff – helping
employers attract talent from
local communities and ensuring
people from all backgrounds
get the chance to pursue a
rewarding career.
With the increased focus on data
and move to electronic patient
records there is also a focus on
digital apprenticeships to attract
new talent into tech roles in the
NHS, with opportunities ranging
from Data Technician to Artificial
Intelligence Data Specialist.
Professor Mark Radford,
Director of Long Term
Workforce Plan Delivery
and Education, and Deputy
Chief Nursing Officer at NHS
England, said:
“Apprentices are at the heart of
our Long Term Workforce Plan,
to put staffing on a sustainable
footing and improve patient care.
“Apprenticeships are a fantastic
tool, not only to attract new talent
to the NHS but also to develop the
skills of the existing workforce.
“Our ambition for apprenticeships
is to continue to build on the
fantastic success of the expansion
to date and provide an alternative
route to careers such as nursing
and Allied Health Professions.
Working with UCAS from 2025
young people will also be able to
apply for apprenticeships at the
same time as traditional degree
programmes.”
Health Minister Andrew
Stephenson said:
“I am delighted to see the NHS
has emerged as the country’s
top trainer of apprentices – with
over 20,000 starting last year -
showing just how many people
continue to value a career in the
health service.
“Apprentices are an integral part
of the NHS’ Long Term Workforce
Plan. We’re committed to
boosting training for clinical staff
through apprenticeships over the
coming years, as we continue
to deliver long term change for a
brighter future.
“The introduction of the
groundbreaking Medical Doctor
Degree Apprenticeship will further
widen participation from underrepresented
backgrounds —
inspiring more people to pursue
their dreams while allowing them
to earn while they learn.”
Minister for Skills,
Apprenticeships and Higher
Education Robert Halfon said:
“The NHS serves the nation’s
health needs every single day and
apprenticeships are a crucial way
for the health service to get the
staff it vitally needs. NHS England
AMBULANCE UK – APRIL
20
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For further recruitment vacancies visit: www.ambulanceukonline.com
For further recruitment vacancies visit: www.ambulanceukonline.com