HART Operative ( and Candidate Pool)
We are East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS), an organisation focused on delivering a high standard of emergency and urgent care to our patients across the region.
The East Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust (EMAS) provides Emergency, Urgent and Non-Emergency pre-hospital care and transport across six counties (Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire, Leicestershire & Rutland and Northamptonshire).
Job overview
An opportunity has arisen for people to join the Hazardous Area Response Team Operatives ( and Candidate Pool) at Mansfield.
Looking for a new and exciting challenge? EMAS NHS Trust are seeking enthusiastic and motivated staff to join their Hazard Area Response Team (HART) appointable candidate pool, which is a continuing national initiative led by the NHS England, which enables clinical care to be delivered in areas previously inaccessible to the Ambulance Service.This pool will be used to fill vacancies across the following 12 months when opportunities arise.
The Hazardous Area Response Team (HART) is the generic term applied to staff recruited and trained specifically to operate within the inner cordon at an incident (“hot zone”) or in hazardous environments. “Hot Zone” is defined as:
The Hot Zone is an area within the Inner Cordon where high concentrations of a substance are present and specific procedures and protocols, including Dynamic Risk Assessments, controlled access and egress and the wearing of appropriate levels of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) are required.Dependent on the type and nature of the hazard this area may contain live casualties who will need to be treated and prioritised for decontamination and evacuation” (National HART Work Standard Operating Procedures).
Main duties of the job
Successful applicants will receive the relevant training, pertinent to the full range of HART capabilities, through attendance of local or national courses.
HART Operatives are expected to be able to work in highly pressurised environments. Appropriate training, equipment and Personal Protective Equipment will be provided to mitigate against any risks, but individuals will need to be mentally and physically resilient to undertake the role.
You will need to be a Registered Paramedic with the Health Care Professions Council (HCPC) and have successfully completed a HCPC approved paramedic process.
If you have completed the NQP Pathway, this should be over a 2 year period obtaining experience in clinical practice, or less if progressed through the national fast track programme.
It will be necessary to demonstrate competence in team working, self-discipline, communication skills, adaptability, planning skills and decision making.
Due to the nature of the work and the constraints of the personal protective equipment, including gas-tight suits and extended duration breathing apparatus, a more stringent medical standard must be met.
All aspects of the recruitment and selection process must be successfully completed. Applications will be shortlisted against the requirements of the role. Those taken forward will be subject to an optical assessment, occupational health medical, physical fitness assessment, clinical assessment, competency based interview and DBS check.
Working for our organisation
The EMAS Hazardous Area Response Team consist of 48 Paramedics trained and equipped to respond to patients with in the "Hot Zone".
The Unit is split into 6 teams of 7 HART Operatives with a HART Team Leader responsible for each team. This ensures we are able to maintain cover 24 hours a day.
The selection process will consist of:-
STAGE ONE- Shortlisting of applications
STAGE TWO
Please Note - You must be available to attend on the 3rd and 4th June 2025
To ensure you are capable and comfortable working in the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and environments encountered during HART deployments we will put you through a series of scenarios over a two day assessment programme. You must successfully complete all elements of Day 1 before progressing to Day 2.
The assessments include:
- Physical Competence Assessment (PCA)
- Swimming Assessment
- Clinical Assessment paper
- Trauma/Advanced Life Support assessment
- Confined Space/tunnel crawl
- Breathing Apparatus appreciation wear
- Ladder climb and abseil
- Competency based Interview including scenarios
- Specialist Occupational Health Assessment (including Sight and Hearing).
- Successful completion of 6 weeks residential training (Dates TBC) – Please note you must be available to attend 6 consecutive weeks at the start of your employment
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Provide immediate health input to the initial assessment of the scene to meet the needs of Ambulance and Health Services, including casualty confirmation and management.
To provide specialist clinical support and knowledge within HAZMAT/CBRN, unstable terrain, at height or in/near water.
Actively support and work with other members of the Team undertaking those tasks allocated by the HART Team Leader, or Incident Commander.
Be prepared to respond to national incidents, with the possibility of being away for unknown periods of time.
Direct, coordinate and deliver lifesaving clinical care for patients within the inner cordon including triage (where appropriate, toxic triage), diagnosis, appropriate treatment, prior to, and during, decontamination (if contamination present) and in situations of difficult access, unstable terrain or confined spaces, at times being the only clinician in situ and deliver casualties into mainstream healthcare.
Person specification
HCPC
Essential criteria- HCPC registered Paramedic
Driving Licence
Essential criteria- UK Driving License which must include category C1. No more than 3 points
Experience
Essential criteria- Minimum of 2 years post registration operational experience and completion of NQP period
- ALS, PHTLS, PHEC or other advanced clinical courses.
Knowledge
Essential criteria- Maintain and demonstrate continuous professional development in line with the paramedic role.
The East Midlands has a lot to offer:
Excellent Location
Making a Difference
Action Packed Roles
Support and Belonging
Note on Covid-19 Vaccination status:
It is a clear professional responsibility of all health care staff to be vaccinated. EMAS NHS Trust therefore encourages and supports all employees to be vaccinated as it remains the best line of defence against COVID 19.
If you haven’t heard back from us within eight weeks of the closing date please consider your application unsuccessful.
Due to the high volume of applications received we are unable to provide updates on the progress of applications and only successful candidates at shortlisting stage will be contacted, regrettably feedback will not be provided. If you are unsuccessful at this stage please refer back to the job description, person specification and advertised requirements for ways to improve your future applications.
Internal candidates applying for vacancies must have completed their probationary period (stated within your contract) at point of application.
East Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust is an equal opportunities and Disability Confident employer, committed to ensuring equality of opportunity. We actively encourage interest from across our diverse communities. Black and Minority Ethnic staff are currently under-represented within our workforce, and we welcome applications from within these communities.
We are keen to promote a positive work-life balance. We recognise the importance of being able to spend quality time with family and friends and to engage in your own personal interests outside of work, which alongside work helps us to lead healthy and fulfilling lives.We are committed to embedding the NHS People Promise to support colleagues to work flexibly in a way that works for our patients, for us and for you. Many of our staff already work flexibly in many different ways, including job share, part-time or other flexible working patterns.
Please talk openly to us at interview about flexible working opportunities. In addition, if a role is advertised as home based, we remain committed to supporting flexibility around workplace locations, so please talk to us about the options available to you.
If it works for our service, we will do our best to make it work for you.
At EMAS we believe that our culture should be built upon our core values and that our behaviour should reflect these. Our values – respect, integrity, contribution, teamwork and compassion - underpin everything we do – how we deliver our services and how we work with each other.We believe that it’s our people who make EMAS what it is.
Our Vision - Responding to patient needs in the right way, developing our organisation to become outstanding for patients and staff, and collaborating to improve wider healthcare.
Please note we reserve the right to withdraw this vacancy if an internal member of staff on our redeployment register expresses an interest and is successful for this vacancy, or if a sufficient number of applications is received.
Please be aware if you are applying for a Frontline role, an Enhanced DBS clearance check will be required, and depending on the nature of other non-patient facing roles this check may also be required if offered a position with EMAS (All spent and unspent convictions must declared).
If you are not part of the update service, you will be liable for the payment and this will be deducted from your first months’ salary. The current cost of an enhanced DBS check is £55.38.