Ambulance Support Worker Section
This section of the web site makes you aware of our work on the Trust's plan to implement ASW's / ECA's to the service.
The Trust's management are insisting they move forward with recruiting large numbers of ASW's from April and have them crewed with our existing Paramedics and EMT's.
The term ECA is the national name given to the non-clinical support type role within the ambulance service. The name ECA will now be used over ASW. We have been opposed to this form of use of the ECA's and ASW's on the grounds of patient safety and the radically increased responsibilities and liabilities to our members. The ECA's and ASW's themselves also appear to have very limited career direction.
However, we have supported their introduction to the service when they are crewed together and assigned to minor illness patients to reduce the already excessive pressure on our A&E crews. This is about to change in the new year as the service attempts to recruit large numbers of ECA's to work with Paramedics and EMT's.
There are some points to consider with the introduction of large numbers of ASW/ECA staff:
- There will almost certainly result in splitting of established crews,
- The additional ECA's will provide more staff and possibly reduce the high workloads,
- The ECA's will have limited clinical liability resulting in much higher level of responsibility for the clinician,
- The ECA's will be carrying out almost all of the driving duties,
- It may mean difficulties at multi-casualty situations,
- It may reduce the capacity for clinicians to consult with colleagues over patient care issues,
- For clinicians with added responsibilities, it may mean future re-evaluations of job roles, under Agenda for Change,
Branch Secretary Kevin Risley says;
“Our concerns over the ASW role are based on dangers during incidents where more than one person is injured. ASW’s will have such limited first aid training that it is reasonable to think that in multi-casualty incidents patients would be at risk”.
The most recent update we have this week is that the East of England Ambulance Service is awaiting the results of a national scheme before deciding whether or not to go ahead with the changes to ambulance crews. This means a pilot scheme due to be rolled out in Hertfordshire next month will not go ahead as originally planned. UNISON welcomes this course of action and urges a continuation of opposition from political allies.
Version 2.2 | © EEAS-UNISON. All rights reserved.
