Allison and Karen from our UK and Ireland team visited the Essex & Herts Air Ambulance Trust (EHAAT) this week. This Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) provides a free life-saving service for residents in Essex, Herts and surrounding areas. Their mission is simple: save lives.
The Essex & Herts Air Ambulance Trust is a hugely successful charitable organisation; they are moving to a 24/7 service in 2019 and will be increasing the number of doctors employed by the service. EHAAT have partnered with Head Medical for this recruitment and we are delighted to be working alongside this charity. The requirements at present are experienced Doctors (ST4+ or equivalent) with specialty training in Emergency Medicine or Anaesthetics and a keen interest in pre-hospital medicine.
We were delighted to be invited to attend the final Clinical Governance Day in 2018 where we listened to incredible stories from past patients and their family members, detailed audits of key cases presented by the attending doctors and we also gained an insight into the roles of the two Patient Liaison Managers. The day was both inspiring and emotional, the work EHAAT carry out by taking the hospital to the patient is clearly life-changing for the patients and their families and it was lovely to hear the positive feedback which was given to the crew in each case. The passion and dedication shown by the flight crews, the CEO, Jane Gurney and the Clinical Director, Stuart Elms gave such a great first impression of this organisation and the first-hand experience of the patients and their families really spoke volumes about the great work that they do. The day ended with a detailed summary of the year to date, including call volumes (over 2,000 active calls in 2018 which is a 2.9% increase from 2017), incident type and patient result to name a few.
On day two we travelled up to Earls Colne to see the charity headquarters and airbase and to have a more in-depth meeting with key members of the Executive Team. We were hosted by Caroline Beresford, Head of HR, who gave us a tour of the building. The facilities in the purpose-built office are excellent and we were introduced to the fundraising and marketing teams and saw several volunteers working away as well. Caroline is very passionate about her role and is dedicated to recruiting and retaining the best staff, and although perhaps cliché this organisation has a real ‘family feel’ and the right personality fit was one of the main points of discussion.
Next we travelled with Caroline and Stuart over to the airbase to meet with the Medical Director, Dr Ronan Fenton. We had the opportunity to see the helicopter on stand and the rapid response vehicles, with Ronan giving some interesting detail on the equipment carried in both vehicles. Currently there are two helicopters owned by EHAAT and they fly only in daylight hours, outside these the rapid response vehicles are used by the teams. We had an excellent meeting with Ronan and Stuart and discussed in detail the level of experience suitable candidates would have, their likely training pathway and career point. Each shortlisted candidate will be invited to an interview, and to undertake an observer shift with the crew. If successful there are several pre-employment requirements such as a fitness test and GMC registration, completing the Pre-Hospital Care course at the Royal London Hospital and a full induction prior to sign off.
Head Medical are now interviewing candidates for the positions of Pre-Hospital Care Doctors, with start dates in 2019, 2020 and 2021. Please get in touch with us to discuss the posts and your suitability and take a look at our EHAAT Employer Profile page.