Student Paramedic Ballinasloe 23rd July 2018

blackprawn

A thread for keeping the students attending Ballinasloe from the 23rd July 2018 updated.

blackprawn

Hello everyone. I received notification today that I will be beginning training in ballinasloe on July 23rd 2018. I am going through the document I was sent which details what documents I will need to submit to the pre-employment people.

'What type of screening is required?

This will vary depending on your personal circumstances and the level of the position that you are being considered for; the team will advise you of the specific requirements however in general these include (but are not limited to)

 References from previous employers
 Occupational Health check
 Garda Vetting
 Verification of Qualifications
 Validation of Qualifications (if you studied outside the Republic of Ireland)
 International Police Certificates/ reports
 Photo Identification – Passport*
 Evidence of Professional Registration where there is a statutory requirement to be registered with a professional body
 Birth Certificate*
 Marriage Certificate*
 Evidence of eligibility to work in the state; work permit
 Confirmation of incremental credit

*Please be aware that some of the documentation that is required is for other departments such as Superannuation and in order to enable us to comply with Garda Vetting requirements'

So far I have birth cert, passport, references from previous employers, and I intend to go to the local garda station to get them stamped and hopefully, that will be enough for them to be 'notarized'. I lived in england for a time, so I will also require a police clearance from the west mercia police service. They have an online form to fill out and various documents they will also require. The cost for the cert is £45.
I intend to post updates as and when they happen. Hopefully they will be of use to people.

Also I will be driving from Galway city To Ballinasloe and back each day to attend the course, so if anyone would be interested in carpooling, let me know

blackprawn

Having emailed the folks at recruitscreening @hse .ie, to confirm that it is sufficient to have the requested documents (birth cert, proof of address, marriage cert etc) notarised by the Garda, I received the following reply.

'Thank you for your email.

Yes that is fine.

(* To notarise/certify documents, please bring the original document and a copy to either of the following; 1) Commissioner for Oaths, 2) Peace Commissioner, 3) Practising Solicitor or 4) member of An Garda Siochana.

They witness the original and stamp the copy as a true copy)

Kind regards'

So that's good news

Also, re. Foreign clearances, they said the following.

'We require a basic disclosure. If you no long reside in the UK you will have to request a paper clearance be sent to your Irish address.

https://www.mygov.scot/disclosure-paper-application/

Kind regards'

Meaning its looking likely I'll need to get the £45 version.

blackprawn

Update on the police clearance issue. I just got an email from the recruit screening folks.

'Many thanks for your email, Disclosure Scotland covers the entire United Kingdom. It is a basic disclosure we request, you may also apply through ACRO.

Kind Regards,'

so this llink https://www.mygov.scot/disclosure-paper-application/
might be more useful and less expensive than acro.

blackprawn

So I received the application form from Disclosure Scotland today and posted it along with photocopies of two forms of photographic identification, and proof of address (bank statement). I included debit card payment details, and the cost will be £25, which beats the ACRO £45. Before filling out the application form for the basic police act disclosure, I read this document

https://www.mygov.scot/guide-to-completing-disclosure-application/applicants-guide-police-act-disclosure-2016.pdf?inline=true

According to their website it will take around 14 days to process the form once they receive it.

blackprawn

I received an email from the occupational health folks. It included a form to fill out and post back to them, have you ever had tb, Ebola, etc. It requests evidence of past vaccinations which I don't have here unfortunately. I might have to send away to the UK to get them. It also requests an eye and ear test, so I've booked one for tomorrow afternoon at specsavers who do both. I'll include copies of the results and post the form, at which point I can call them and arrange an appointment date.

Potty4Potter

Good god I've been trying to sign in/ make a new account for the past week!! I too am in the process for July 23rd! Brain = fried. Local guard = harassed. doctors secretary = terrified 😂

blackprawn

Potty4Potter wrote: »

Good god I've been trying to sign in/ make a new account for the past week!! I too am in the process for July 23rd! Brain = fried. Local guard = harassed. doctors secretary = terrified 😂

Fun times indeed. I posted the occupational health documents on Saturday and I'll be emailing the scanned copies of the Garda vetting documents today. Its good that the gardai can notarize stuff though.

Potty4Potter

blackprawn wrote: »

Fun times indeed. I posted the occupational health documents on Saturday and I'll be emailing the scanned copies of the Garda vetting documents today. Its good that the gardai can notarize stuff though.

Did you send your occupational health documents without your vaccinations or did you get them back that quick? I'm awaiting blood test results for Varicella, was going to leave it until tomorrow and send it next day delivery. I'll scan vetting form today. Also awaiting up to date letter of entitlement from the ndls.

blackprawn

Potty4Potter wrote: »

Did you send your occupational health documents without your vaccinations or did you get them back that quick? I'm awaiting blood test results for Varicella, was going to leave it until tomorrow and send it next day delivery. I'll scan vetting form today. Also awaiting up to date letter of entitlement from the ndls.

Just called them on 057 9359137 to arrange my medical checkup date. Very nice lady made the appointment no problem, gave me directions to the place from Galway. All of my vaccinations were written on a form given to me when I left the army, which they said is fine, the nurses can take blood tests on the day if need be. Push comes to shove, I'll have to get a bunch more jabs in the arm. I sent it registered post on Saturday and it has yet to be delivered. I'd say send them what you can ahead of time and if need be, send the rest later, and call today to arrange the appointment

As for NDLS, I got my licence in the UK, and the DVLA (UK NDLS) have a very handy feature on their website where you can request a code and printout of your licence, entitlements and points, and send that to the gardai, who can use the code to gain access to the full report. I'm not sure if the NDLS has anything like that.

Its all a bit of a nightmare but hopefully it will be done soon. Then the terrible waiting game will begin. Again.

Potty4Potter

blackprawn wrote: »

Just called them on 057 9359137 to arrange my medical checkup date. Very nice lady made the appointment no problem, gave me directions to the place from Galway. All of my vaccinations were written on a form given to me when I left the army, which they said is fine, the nurses can take blood tests on the day if need be. Push comes to shove, I'll have to get a bunch more jabs in the arm. I sent it registered post on Saturday and it has yet to be delivered. I'd say send them what you can ahead of time and if need be, send the rest later, and call today to arrange the appointment

Right I'm gonna get on that right now! 😊

blackprawn

I also just emailed all of the required vetting documents to recruitscreening@hse.ie. hopefully scanned copies of the notarised documents will be sufficient, or its off to the post office again

Potty4Potter

All posted/scanned. Nearly €9 to post occupational health documents next day delivery. Would have been almost the same price to drive them up and deliver them personally!

blackprawn

Potty4Potter wrote: »

All posted/scanned. Nearly €9 to post occupational health documents next day delivery. Would have been almost the same price to drive them up and deliver them personally!

I emailed recruit screening to ask if they had received the occ health docs by post and Garda vetting docs by email, and I got an email back saying I needed to post the Garda docs. €10.25 next day delivery signed for. I'd suggest posting them to eliminate any bureaucracy. Such fun.

Potty4Potter

blackprawn wrote: »

I emailed recruit screening to ask if they had received the occ health docs by post and Garda vetting docs by email, and I got an email back saying I needed to post the Garda docs. €10.25 next day delivery signed for. I'd suggest posting them to eliminate any bureaucracy. Such fun.

Yup I had to post them too. Even though the instructions state scan all documents and email or post to etc. Nowhere (that I've found) did it mention having to post the vetting forms

Anyway. Just filled out the evetting invitation. Back to the wait now I guess!!

blackprawn

Potty4Potter wrote: »

Yup I had to post them too. Even though the instructions state scan all documents and email or post to etc. Nowhere (that I've found) did it mention having to post the vetting forms

Anyway. Just filled out the evetting invitation. Back to the wait now I guess!!

Glad to hear the e-vetting went well. Guess that means the documents arrived in time I asked about the fact that the email they sent us said we can scan and send the documents. Apparently the process had been updated recently, they just forgot to edit the document. Such is life. I'll be checking the status of the vetting application daily now.

blackprawn

Busy times this week. My medical check in tullamore went well. Just a urine test, blood samples taken, bmi measured. I need to get further vaccination documentation and email it to the occhealth nurse, but other than that its all good. I also just got an email from the Garda vetting folks saying my vetting has been completed and is being forwarded to the HSE. They were remarkably quick in my opinion. Good times.

Potty4Potter

blackprawn wrote: »

Busy times this week. My medical check in tullamore went well. Just a urine test, blood samples taken, bmi measured. I need to get further vaccination documentation and email it to the occhealth nurse, but other than that its all good. I also just got an email from the Garda vetting folks saying my vetting has been completed and is being forwarded to the HSE. They were remarkably quick in my opinion. Good times.

I'm just in the door from occ health myself. I'm the same, need to send more documentation. Turns out I need to get my tetanus jab as it went out of date in 2015. I didn't know what the date was when I was in there so I didn't let her give it to me as she said it could cause swelling and pain if its within the 10yrs and I have a competition on Saturday. I'll go to my GP next week.
I got the vetting back too, I've always found it quite quick but I know people that have been waiting a long time.
Also got a questionnaire in an email last night, must fill that in this evening

blackprawn

A student beginning the course soon asked me what I have been doing in preparation for the course. I am somewhat of a nerd so I've been doing loads of research. For prelearning, I have been watching a YouTube video series called crash course anatomy. Each episode is ten minutes long and is handy for getting an idea of just how complicated humans are, but in a good format that makes it enjoyable. Khanacademy have good videos on ECG interpretation, and I'm signed up to various Facebook groups, one of the best being '12 lead ECG, I've got the rhythm' I have been reading over the phecc paramedic cpgs that are available online. I would say the most difficult areas of the course will be ECG interpretation, medications and pharmacology, and dosage calculations. Master your medics is a good channel on both Facebook and YouTube. Geekymedics too. There's a load of good information available. And for motivation, look up a series called 'an hour to save your life'. Be warned though, some of it is quite grim.