Patient transporter job description full#

Though I live alone, I often organise events with my colleagues from the base and former colleagues who work elsewhere in the service.

Patient transporter job description full#

My head can be full of comments from people I’ve met that day and scenarios we’ve assessed. On a good day I’m home by 6.30pm and I usually go out and play squash, or go mountain biking to relax. Once we receive a return to base message from control we head back to clean the vehicle, replenish stock and sometimes hand it over to the next crew who start the 6pm to 1am shift. It is unpredictable but if the NHS is busy, we work late. Patients are discharged and outpatients need returning home. The final bit of the day can be the busiest as control allocates jobs urgently to help hospitals clear beds. The young boy can’t communicate verbally and has very little physical movement but his mother and nurse are aware when he is uncomfortable and explain the signals.Īs we head out of the front door the patient, wrapped up in blankets and comfortable on our stretcher, enjoys feeling the sunshine on his face. Accompanied by a nurse and his mother, this patient is on a ventilator with suction equipment. We pick up a 12-year-old boy, booked as a stretcher case, to attend a fracture clinic appointment. Although this may be considered a tough, unglamorous job, I wouldn’t change it for the world. Originally I wanted to be a paramedic, after working in care, but I love this job too much. She relaxes as she sees familiar faces and we leave knowing she is happy. We get her home and her carers hoist the patient into her armchair. In cases like this it’s about making the patient feel at ease and spending a little more time. We assess her mobility and the access to her home. The right vehicle and crew must be matched with the patient. If vital information is given incorrectly or is incomplete it results in delays. When bookings are made, details about mobility, age, and special needs are given to the call-takers who allocate the correct crew and vehicle. We need to check this one carefully as the booking indicates a complex patient who may require specialist equipment and additional crew. We arrive at Manchester’s busiest A&E to take a patient home. We gather his belongings and tablets, take him home and make sure he is settled. We assist with a discharge patient who is in his mid-sixties and medically fit to go home but after four days on the ward unhappy and anxious. I get to know my regulars, some of whom we help for years. We provide interaction, support – and I’ve even been known to light the odd pilot-light to get their heating going. For many, we are their only human contact outside of their care package. Patients can be worried, sometimes disorientated, and are often alone. More than 74% of my patients are over the age of 70 and 50% are over 81. Unusually, we are allocated her return journey whereby on seeing us she shouts: “Hello again, what do you think of my new teeth?” and flashes a great beaming smile. She is clearly happy to be out and chats for the entire journey. Using a wheelchair to exit her flat, we take her for a dental appointment. Our first patient is a 93-year-old lady with limited mobility and failing eyesight. We travel to 12 different Manchester hospital trusts, 50 care homes, numerous GP surgeries and clinics across the region.

Crewman John Webster and I check the vehicle it must be clean and equipped with wheelchairs, stretchers, gloves, dressings and oxygen. I arrive at the Wythenshawe depot for my 10-hour shift.