Yorkshire Ambulance Service empowers young people through King’s Trust employability programme

Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust (YAS) has been working in partnership with the King’s Trust since 2021 to help young people develop valuable skills to boost their employment prospects and find work.

The Get Started Programme is managed by the King’s Trust in conjunction with organisations across the country and supports those aged 16-30, who are out of work or lacking education or training, to build their skills and confidence with an aim of helping more people into jobs. Over the last four years, YAS has run six courses and 60 young people have benefited from the support provided.

The week-long programme is delivered by YAS’s Community Engagement team and includes employability and life-skills sessions, focusing on topics such as basic life support, communication and interview preparation. Attendees also have the opportunity meet staff who work in the ambulance service from areas including the Emergency Operations Centre (EOC), non-emergency Patient Transport Service (PTS) and Hazardous Area Response Team (HART), to learn more about their roles.

The programme also closely aligns with YAS’s corporate strategy and community engagement strategy, both of which outline the Trust’s commitment to engaging with communities across the region.

Dave Jones, Community Engagement Manager at YAS, said: “The Get Started programmes are always a great success and it is very rewarding to be able to support young people in their own development as they look to begin their careers.

“I’m proud to say that from each of the programmes we have run, we’ve had at least one person from the individual groups make a successful application to work at YAS. Others in the groups have used the opportunity to identify development needs, including gaining maths and English qualifications, and with support from the YAS Academy and the King’s Trust have been able to access suitable courses.”

The following staff and volunteers joined YAS after attending the Get Started programme.

Axel Soon - Clinical Governance and Quality Administrator

Axel Soon currently works as a Clinical Governance and Quality Administrator in Integrated Urgent Care (IUC), after applying to YAS following his experience on the Get Started programme. The workshop Axel found particularly valuable was aimed at enhancing interview skills. He said: “Even if you don’t end up applying to YAS, the skills you acquire are applicable to any future applications.”

Prior to starting the programme, he had previous experience in an administrative/legal role and aspired to work within the healthcare sector in a similar role after moving to Wakefield.

Axel said: “I am now entering my fourth month with YAS and have not been disappointed yet!  An organisation which consistently dedicates resources to potential applicants - not even knowing if they would become employees - shows that they would likely value the professional growth of their own employees as well, which was very important to me.”

Emma Leech - Community First Responder (CFR)

Emma Leech currently volunteers as a Community First Responder (CFR) at YAS and will shortly be starting her new role at the Trust, working as a 999 Call Handler.

Emma chose to join the Get Started programme as she wanted to find out more about careers and volunteering within the ambulance service. She said: “The programme really helped me develop my confidence. Even as an older participant, I found there was still much to learn about myself, and every workshop we did was so interesting. I feel this programme also helped me develop interview skills, which I believe were vital in me securing my roles within YAS.

“I love being a Community First Responder. I think that the best thing about this role is you get out of it what you put into it. If you work really hard, are engaged and interested, then the ambulance crews will teach you and let you get more involved in the care of patients. I’m also excited to be starting as a 999 Call Handler in June and to bring my CFR and frontline knowledge to the role.”

Wade O'Neill – Community First Responder (CFR)

Wade O’Neill joined the Get Started programme after previously taking part in two other courses with the King’s Trust. He said: “I joined to see what the course would be like and it made me realise just how much more there is to the ambulance service.”

Wade said the programme helped him with communication and teamwork skills, and provided him with the confidence to become a volunteer at YAS.

“I enjoy the role most when I'm responding to jobs and I arrive before an ambulance, and I’m able to give the patient reassurance during observations that an ambulance is on the way and that I will do my best to help until then.”