East of England Ambulance Service Trust Employee Reviews

The nuts and bolts of the work are great - no micromanagement, a chance to help people every day and great colleagues.However, the organisation can be a really difficult place to work - quite chaotic and disorganised about the non-clinical stuff. People often have simple issues with pay, uniform or IT that seem to take a ridiculous amount of time to sort out. Managers generally well meaning, but underprepared and undersupported, so often not very effective.

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Good place to work

Administrator (Current Employee) - Colchester, Essex - 14 November 2023

EEAST is a Good place to work. The pay is decent. Flexible and can work from home. Colleagues are nice and work is interesting. Progression opportunities are lacking however

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Insights into East of England Ambulance Service Trust

Based on 67 survey responses

What people like

Ability to learn new things
Clear sense of purpose

Areas for improvement

Sense of belonging
Time and location flexibility
Support from manager

Once you have got over the experience of working for the ambulance service reality sets in and a realisation how bad thing are

Manager (Former Employee) - Hellesdon, Norfolk - 12 November 2023

What is the best part of working at the company?When you start there it's fine but more involved then they destroy youWhat is the most stressful part about working at the company?Poor management, bullying long hours with no thanks What is the work environment and culture like at the company?Bullying culture, blame culture What is a typical day like for you at the company?Stressful, no breaks, no thanks

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Often highly rewarding, sometimes challenging. Great people.

Emergency Medical Technician (Current Employee) - South Bedfordshire District, Bedfordshire - 16 October 2023

For nearly five years I’ve worked in South Beds. For the vast majority of that time it’s been a hugely positive experience. I work with a great team of road crews and local management. It’s not all perfect - some long waiting times at hospitals, late jobs for people who should have seen their GP a week ago and don’t / shouldn’t need an ambulance, etc., but I find that the many opportunities to help people on some of the worst days of their lives outweigh these negatives.Some other reviews are very negative and clearly there are some problems as in any large organisation. One main difference between the NHS and the private sector is that in the real world bad people or those not suited to the job would be fired rather than being moved sideways or promoted. For the most part (in my region) this doesn’t seem to be the case currently. I work with many good people.People who start at the bottom of the ladder have clear progression options to increase their skill level and pay band.I don’t see myself leaving the team any time soon.

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Relentless

Eoc (Current Employee) - Norwich - 12 October 2023

Bullying upper management who have no consideration or concern for their own staff. Will change the goal posts with out a by or leave, the unseen face of the nhs is the band 8+ managers who are simply building their cvs

Pros

Rest days

Cons

Management

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It is nice to help people.

Ambulance Care Assistant (Former Employee) - Colchester - 23 September 2023

The role of an Ambulance Care Assistant is to transport patients to and from their appointments, between hospitals and care homes. It can be challenging, getting everyone in on time for their appointments. This is a physical job, a lot of lifting and maneuver of patients in wheel chairs, on stretchers, and carrying people up and down stair cases, and in and out of the ambulance. The NHS East of England Trust recently lost this contract, but upon appeal, the contract is being put out for tender again. This means that within a year, they could lose the contract again, and you could end up working for a private contractor.

Pros

Opportunity to train up to paramedic

Cons

Working 12 hour night shifts, some start times begin at 5.15am.

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I now understand why the NHS is broken...

Vehicle Technician (Former Employee) - Opps Support - 20 September 2023

I Joined EOEAS full of hope and confidence that being a public sector NHS job it would be reasonably well managed, some good perks and have plenty of scope for career progression. Let me tell you, that is not the case! This was, without a doubt, the worst place I have ever worked in my 24 years of working life so far. I knew on day 1 I had made a dreadful mistake, and from then on it just got worse almost every day. Unlucky for me, COVID came along and destroyed the job market, meaning I got stuck here for far longer than I would have liked. There are certainly a few good people here who really care about what they do and work hard, but unfortunately they are vastly outnumbered by the huge majority who don't. The leadership / management here is laughable, taking no action and accepting no responsibility when needed, and are just generally incompetent. There is no organisation to the department, no planning ahead, no learning from mistakes and making improvements. It's just the same old story everyday.....you come in to work, the planned work doesn't turn up, a load of work that wasn't planned does turn up, but you can't fix it because you don't have the parts. You order the parts, then the parts don't turn up, the car park fills up with broken Ambulances, you get moaned at, you do what you can, constantly chasing, taking reactive steps to overcome everybody else's mistakes. You make suggestions to improve the system and get the work flowing better, but you get ignored, then you go home (late!), sleep and repeat again tomorrow. Due to the huge staff turnover, they will hire -

Pros

NHS Pension & Holiday

Cons

Everything else

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Good job but watch your health!

Technician (Current Employee) - Huntingdon and Peterborough, Cambridgeshire - 19 September 2023

Great job. No home work life balance. Shifts changed at last minute notice. Not knowing what you are working more than 2 weeks in advance so cant plan a life. No welfare, no support, all training in your own time. Late or no meal breaks. Always late off. No consistency with shifts. Different crew mate everyday. Your just a number. Mostly sent to people who don't need a ambulance. Only decent thing is the colleagues, most fantastic bunch. Most staff on anxiety or depression meds, never known a company with staff with so much mental health problems and management just not interested. Regular shifts and crew would be a bonus but they don't listen and staff leave or burnt out due to shift system, shame as could be amazing.

Pros

Doing the job

Cons

Missed lunch. Always late off. No shift pattern, no permanent crew mate. Mental health suffers.

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Good management

ECA (Former Employee) - Cambridge - 4 September 2023

It is a tough job and can be demoralising at some points, when you get to go through days with routine jobs. Having been through other ambulance trusts the training is well done. Instructors take a lot of pride in what they do and believe in the job. Very approachable and will listen to any issues you have. When you go on the road, you can get some crews that are very patient and friendly and some that aren't. For your time it can be luck of the draw.The station management are great, they will look after you and are approachable. The downside is people like HR and rostering. I had issues which effected my driving course, meaning I didn't pass because of such a long commute. Admin Mobiles are always switched off and it is nearly impossible to reach them, only my email which can be hard if you have pay queries. They still seem to be working from home long after covid. If you can stick it for the first few months, you begin to get accepted and fit in. Not a job where everyone is wanting to know your name on the first day.

Pros

Plenty of overtime, can be interesting

Cons

lack of support from admin, stressful situations, long hours.

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Toxic, Nepotistic and dishonest.

Emergency Medical Technician (Former Employee) - Norwich - 6 August 2023

EEAST struggles for staff, especially retaining them. As a result there is a bums on seat culture that promotes quantity over quality. From day one sat with people in training who didn't know what job they'd even applied for, to my last day being told that my safeguarding concerns were invalid, I knew this place didn't uphold the values it promotes.Wellbeing at EEAST is more about token gestures and PR exercises than looking after staff.The Trust, it's directors and it's management are more concerned about self preservation and public perception than actually delivering the service the say they want.Dream job ruined by a nightmare employer. If you live near LAS or EMAS areas, apply for those.

Pros

Rewarding work.

Cons

Toxic culture with no care.

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Jobs at East of England Ambulance Service Trust

See more jobs

CallEEAST Advisor (Full Time)

Norwich

10 days ago

Ambulance Care Assistant - West Essex

Epping

1 day ago

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Make Ready Driver -Ambulance Driver/Cleaner- Huntingdon

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A terrible place to Work

Emergency Care Support Worker (Current Employee) - Luton - 31 July 2023

EEAST is a terrible place to work if you are on a bank contract. You are treated as a second class individual, not given the same employment rights as other staff. This includes the ability to lodge a complaint. The net affect means mangers can bully you without repercussions or reproach.I would never recommend working here

Pros

None

Cons

Terrible Management

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Great environment

Call Handler (Current Employee) - Norwich - 26 July 2023

Rewarding place to work, lots of opportunities to succeed! Great people to work with. The shifts can be long but it does feel worth it in the end! No two days are the same

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Difficult but rewarding

Dispatcher (Current Employee) - Norwich, Norfolk - 5 July 2023

Its a difficult place to work, but that goes with the job that we do. Its high stress, high turn over but also highly important. There is a sense of team and looking after each other.There are those who make it their mission to cause problems where they don't exist!One problem which is very clear and impacts massively is that the Trust are not employing the right people for the roles. We have people who are not suitable being offered positions who then moan and complain.

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Toxic environment, poor Management

Call Handler (Former Employee) - Norwich, Norfolk - 16 June 2023

Avoid at all costs. The stress of 12 hour call handling day/night shifts, losing out on weekends, Bank Holidays, Christmas etc as well as a handful of bullies (mainly Team Leaders and Managers) making a toxic working environment. Constant lack of staff due to high turnover and all in all a complete mess of an organisation

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Great!

Emergency Care Assistant (Current Employee) - Diss, Norfolk - 10 June 2023

Great job, I love working here as it is supportive and has great opportunities for progression which come out regularly you just need to keep an eye on recruitment.

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Call handler

Call Handler (Former Employee) - Hellesdon, Norfolk - 25 May 2023

I worked here as a call handler. Would not recommend to anyone. The management are not considerate about you as a person. All they care about is making sure they have the right persona to others high above them. If you have any health concerns or any medical conditions that you are experiencing, they will not take into consideration what so ever. I even had a sick note in place at the time however they didn’t take into account the stress I was going through due to the high turnover. This lead to further problems. I enjoyed the job as it was thoroughly rewarding, furthermore the management made it a negative environment to work in, which has left me without a job.

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Rewarding job but poor management

Call Handler (Former Employee) - Norwich, Norfolk - 23 May 2023

I worked as a call handler for 9 months, I really enjoyed the job however the management was very poor. There were many occasions I felt unsupported and I was not given the resources I needed to do my job effectively. Also I was extremely disappointed by the lack of consideration for employees health problems, they will offer help but not actually go through with it which is a great shame. The call handling was stressful at times but also incredibly rewarding and I thoroughly enjoyed helping patients in need . It’s a shame about the management, I don’t feel it’s their fault completely as they too have a very demanding job, but a selection of them treat you like a number rather than a human. I hope this helps someone who is considering applying, as I wish I had have known this prior to working here.

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Very bad management

Ambulance Care Assistant (Current Employee) - Watford - 21 May 2023

Toxic work environment, no staff morale, poor working conditions, missing meal breaks, poor relationship with control the list goes on.No opportunity for progression,Minimal recognition for hard workNo forward thinking, everything is short term planning only Absolutely no concerns for the welfare of the staff they employ You won’t be offered any form of development whilst you work here Systemic bullying problem Local management are often unhelpful and view staff as the problem You will be treated as just a number rather than an individual Generally unhappy work environment with staff morale in the pan

Pros

No Pros other than you have a secured nhs job

Cons

no staff morale, poor working conditions, missing meal breaks

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It’s just a very toxic environment to work in

Ambulance care assistant (Former Employee) - East of England - 18 May 2023

What is the best part of working at the company?Nothing. It’s a toxic environment What is the most stressful part about working at the company?Controllers and management. It’s just ‘so it’. Or face the consequences What is the work environment and culture like at the company?Toxic. It’s all friends and family and if you’re not one of them work life is unbearable What is a typical day like for you at the company?Toxic. It’s a dog eat dog environment and you have to cover your back at all times cos someone will drop you in it for their own self gain

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Worst Ambulance service to work for

Ambulance Care Assistant (Former Employee) - Watford, Hertfordshire - 14 May 2023

I would never recommend working for this trust. There is no support from management and a toxic work atmosphere is created from their lack of support and understanding. Any personal issue such bereavements or GP appointments, the answer from management is, you need to be in working. If you’re really lucky it’s, use your annual leave, if you can book it off. The workload you are given on a daily basis is rammed full, with no regards for patient well being or respect for time management. The notion of staff of well-being does not exist. There is no work life balance you are contacted at any and all hours even on your rest days and are expected to answer your phone. Management have a tendency to be on you complaining and assigning blame to you and never letting you forget it. Going off sick from work gets you treated like you’re a petulant school child who misbehaved. Workloads are too much and often take you over your shift end time with management telling you “shift times are flexible, you need to adapt to this”. There is no career growth within East of England (especially within the Patient Transport Services)

Pros

None

Cons

Unsupportive management

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Amazing place to work for sure

Vehicle Cleaning Operative (Former Employee) - Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk - 10 May 2023

Great salary £12+per hr as a VCO Friendly staff Get to meet some amazing paramedicsGet to go inside and clean the ambulances4 days on 3 days off only bad thing I would say about the shifts were that it was day and night shift alternating weekly so it was hard to adjust but other than that very fair job

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