Ambulance's own 'Harvest' of new recruits

Eleven new front-line staff are boosting patient care in Essex after completing a 10-week course at the ambulance training centre in Broomfield, near Chelmsford. This was run as two five-week blocks which had practical and theoretical exams at the end of them. They will now continue their studies to go on and become fully-fledged state registered paramedics.

Training included spending a day at Southend Airport where they were confronted with a mock plane crash with multiple casualties, before undertaking an exercise in the smoke-filled and blacked-out airport fire station. Both of these exercises took place alongside the airport fire service, and the students gained valuable knowledge and experience in working with colleagues from other emergency services.

Working under course leader Gideon Chilton and tutors including senior paramedics Ali Jay and Ian Britten, the students have learnt key clinical skills including:

• medical assessment and treatment

• trauma management

• maternity

• major incident management

The group were presented with certificates at a special presentation at Broomfield, and Gideon praised them for the commitment demonstrated throughout their training: "The group were consistently supportive towards one another and I am sure that this was part of the reason that they achieved consistently high marks in both the practical and theory elements.

"As with many courses, there was a broad diversity of previous work experience and we were able to include this knowledge to the advantage of all ."

ENDS

Notes for editors

Below is the list of where the new group are going to be stationed. Please note we do not release where staff live, only where they work.

BASILDON: Alan Allwood, Andrew Jeffrey, Zoe Long, Angela Porter

CLACTON: Jamie Clark

COLCHESTER: Nathan Nobbs

HARLOW: Marc Beck, Warren Jones

RAYLEIGH: David La Roche             

THURROCK: Natalie Yeend

WITHAM: Tony Vaughan