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- Organise transport to take patients to and from hospital appointments
- You'll need to be very organised and able to solve problems
- Progress to become an emergency medical dispatcher or control room supervisor
As a patient transport controller, you'll organise transport to take patients to and from outpatient clinics, hospital admissions and other non-urgent appointments as part of the non-emergency ambulance service control team.
DAY-TO-DAY DUTIES
- Dealing with requests for transport from patients, relatives and healthcare professionals
- Taking patients' details and making sure they're recorded accurately
- Making decisions on the best use of vehicles and drivers
- Booking transport slots
DAY-TO-DAY ENVIRONMENT
You'll most likely work in an office.
You'll need
For this role, you'll need knowledge of transport methods, costs and benefits, customer service skills, leadership skills, the ability to accept criticism and work well under pressure, to work well with others, thoroughness and attention to detail, flexibility and openness change, patience and the ability to remain calm in stressful situations.
Direct application is possible, but each employer will have their own entry requirements such as GCSEs grades 9 to 4 (A* to C) in English, maths and science; experience in a customer care role, like a call centre operator; a good knowledge of local geography; or good keyboard and computer skills.
Good computer skills and a typing qualification could be useful to get this job, such as college courses in touch typing or IT user skills.
You could get this job through an intermediate apprenticeship in contact centre operations or customer service.
Paid or unpaid experience of working in healthcare would be useful.
Some understanding of medical terms and the ability to speak a community language could be useful.
You'll need to pass background checks.
CAREER PROSPECTS
With experience, you could progress to emergency medical dispatcher or become a control room supervisor, leading a team of controllers or running a fleet of vehicles. You could also move into training.