You'll deal with emergency calls from the public and make sure that the right help reaches people as soon as possible.

Call handlers and emergency medical dispatchers work in ambulance control rooms as part of a team. In most ambulance trusts, call handler and dispatcher are separate roles, but some trusts combine them. 

Call handlers and emergency medical dispatchers often work under great pressure. They might deal with life-or-death emergencies such as a major incident, a heart attack or drug overdose, or be faced with a situation such as a child with a suspected broken leg.

You could also work as a call handler in the NHS 111 service, taking calls from members of the public about non-emergency health problems. You will typically use specialist computer software to provide the caller with an appropriate response to their healthcare needs within a timeframe.

<Taken from NHS Health careers>

Day-to-day tasks

in your day-to-day duties you may:

• keep the caller calm to get essential information

• find out the location and details of what happened

• give basic first aid advice to people facing life-threatening situations

• help people cope until an ambulance arrives

• decide whether the caller needs an ambulance, car, motorbike or helicopter

• work out which vehicle is nearest

• contact the crew and pass on vital information

• create electronic records of calls and events

There are no set entry requirements to become an emergency call handler or medical dispatcher, but employers expect good standards of literacy, numeracy and IT skills. Some may ask for qualifications such as GCSEs, NVQs or equivalent. Employers often ask for relevant work experience. Even where this is not specified, it would be an advantage if you have worked in a call centre or other customer service or healthcare role.

You'll also need need to know how the values of the NHS Constitution apply in your everyday work. 

Apprenticeship

You can get into this role through an advanced apprenticeship in emergency service contact handling.

You'll usually need to be over 18 years old and may need a GCSE grade 9 to 4 (A* to C) in English or equivalent.