Ambulance training manager retires after 38 years
A WELSH Ambulance Service employee who is retiring on Friday after 38 years will leave a legacy of improvement and well trained staff to help drive the Service forward.
Jeff Price, 59, from Usk, Monmouthshire, the Service’s Senior Education & Development Lead started his ambulance career in 1983 after a brief stint with the RAF Police which saw him stationed in Northern Ireland.
Speaking of his early career the married father of three said: “The only way in to the ambulance service back then was to go through Patient Transport or Patient Care Services as it’s known and progress from there.
“I joined Gwent Health Authority on a weekly wage of about £60 and worked for two years stationed at Abergavenny before being selected to do my Qualified Ambulance Person completing my at Pelsall Regional Training School in in the West Midlands.
“I married my wife Angela on a Saturday during my course and had to go straight back on the Monday to complete the course,” he said.
From here, Jeff completed an Extended Ambulance Aid course which made him what we now know as a paramedic in 1989.
“My number was GA009 and I was the ninth paramedic in Gwent to complete to new nationally recognised course and the first on my station at Abergavenny to be operational in that role,” he said.
In 1993, Jeff became a Station Supervisor until 1998 when his journey into training other staff began.
“I’d always been a very pro-active paramedic and the Service were looking for someone to teach a certain course which I did and they saw I was quite good at it.
“I started doing more training seconded to start with but went into it full-time in 1999,” Jeff said.
Over the years Jeff has gained many academic qualifications including BSc Honours in Pre-Hospital Care from Swansea University and a Masters in Advanced Clinical Practice from the University of South Wales.
He was also one of only two Welsh paramedics to be selected to attend the Emergency Care Practitioner programme at John Moore’s University Liverpool.
“I left school at 16 with only a few CSE qualifications,” said Jeff.
“I am very grateful to the Service for supporting me through many qualifications.
“We can’t all be academically gifted when we leave school, I wasn’t, and I tell people who come into the service on the vocational pathway that they can go to university as I did.
"It’s all about application. If you apply yourself, you will achieve.”
Jeff has seen generations of new recruits enter the ambulance profession and takes justifiable pride in seeing people progress.
“It’s been a fantastic career, a privilege and an honour to train so many people over the years.
“It’s a joy to see people progress and being involved with the universities it’s great to see young people coming through the route into the ambulance service.
“I’ve been lucky with my team and have worked with some great people who have made my training lead role a lot easier,” Jeff said.
Jeff also lead the newly qualified paramedic process since its inception in 2017 which enables and supports them through their difficult first two years of hands-on operational practice. He was also recently responsible for the clinical training of military and fire service personnel who assisted the Welsh Ambulance Service during the early and middle stages of the Coronavirus pandemic.
A senior colleague of Jeff’s, Andrew Challenger, Assistant Director, Professional Education and Training said: “Jeff has been pivotal to the modernisation of ambulance education and is a valued member of the senior management team.
“As one of the most respected voices in UK ambulance education, Jeff has remained at the forefront of ambulance education, most recently in relation to the innovative design and development of new education facilities.
“I personally thank Jeff for his hard work, loyalty, and commitment.”
Claire Vaughan, Executive Director of Workforce & Organisational Development for Welsh Ambulance said: “Jeff’s contribution to the evolution of education and training across the Welsh Ambulance Service cannot be underestimated.
“He has been a positive advocate for paramedicine and loyal servant for almost 40 years, which is a tremendous achievement in itself.
“No doubt, he has many proud moments to look back on, not least the influence he has had on developing newly qualified paramedics over the past few years, supporting their learning, and giving them the confidence and skills to be great paramedics. I wish him a healthy and happy, well-earned retirement. Diolch Jeff.”
Reflecting on his retirement, Jeff said: “I’ll miss the ambulance service, but I’m keeping a zero hour contract so I can remain in contact with people.
“It feels like a good time to hand things over now and let my successor take things forward.”