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Medical Assistant (Submariner)
Job Role

Medical Assistant (Submariner)

Working predominantly on submarines, you are responsible for providing routine and emergency medical care to the crew in a challenging environment as part of an elite and highly respected team.

AdventureHealthcareHumanitarian aidMedicalApprenticeships
  • £18,000 - £68,000
  • No qualifications
  • Submarine Service
  • Medical
  • Rating level

At a glance

Want to combine adventure with your medical career? Being a Medical Assistant puts you in the heart of the action. You’ll be part of the Silent Service, the highly specialised team at the forefront of our nation’s defence, embarking on a unique medical career.

£5,000 Bonus

For earning your ‘Dolphins’

£23,000

The minimum amount you'll earn after training

£68,000

Earn over this amount as your progress

Zero

Qualifications needed

6 weeks

Of paid holiday every year

Free

Medical and dental care

Travel

All around the world
Medical assistant checking equipment
I’m constantly learning on the job, much quicker than I would anywhere else. Being a submariner means I’ve learned another whole set of skills, too.

Emily

Medical Assistant, Submariner

Role details

What you’ll do

You’ll embark on a medical career that offers more variety and adventure than you’d ever experience in civilian medicine. And doing this role as a submariner sets it even further apart.

You’ll need to think on your feet in challenging situations, within the operational confines of a state-of-the-art submarine.

Being a submariner means joining an elite team like no other, with your crewmates looking to you to safeguard their health and wellbeing, whatever the mission, wherever you are in the world.   

Your role

  • Work on vessels at the forefront of our nation’s defence: a Vanguard class ballistic missile submarine (our nuclear deterrent) or an Astute class attack submarine.
  • Make a real difference to the health and wellbeing of your crewmates, as you carry out highly classified global missions.
  • Work across all medical departments, learning directly from specialists in a number of fields.
  • You’ll become more than a medic, monitoring the boat’s life support systems such as air and water generation, plus radiation on our nuclear vessels.

Pay & benefits

  • A £5,000 bonus for earning your 'Dolphins' - the mark of the Submarine Service
  • A salary of at least £23,000 as soon as you finish training
  • Earn in excess of £68,000 as your career progresses
  • Additional Submariner pay each day at sea when fully qualified
  • An excellent pension scheme
  • Six weeks of paid holiday every year
  • Free medical and dental care

Skills for life

Qualifications you'll gain

  • Study for GCSEs, A-Levels, NVQs or even a degree, paid for by us 
  • Gain specialist vocational qualifications as your career progresses

Skills you'll develop

  • Learn about first aid, environmental and preventative medicine, anatomy and physiology
  • Develop your skills in specialist areas, like pharmacy or nursing

Eligibility

  • You’ll need to be aged 17 to 39
  • No qualifications are required for this role
  • You must be a United Kingdom citizen or British Dual National. Dual Nationality restrictions do apply
  • You need to be a minimum height of 157cm
  • A Body Mass Index (BMI) between 18 and 28 (between 17 and 27 if under 18)
  • Pass the Naval Swimming Test
     

Skills & Interests

  • A quick thinker with a passion for helping people
  • Great team players who thrive on working with others
  • Enthusiasm for working in high-pressure environments
  • Hands-on people who can react quickly in an emergency

Joining Process

From picking your role to starting on your first day, these are the steps you'll take to join as a rating.

Step 1

Submit an application

Once you’ve registered your interest and have satisfied the basic eligibility criteria, you will be sent an online application form
Apply
Step 2

Defence Aptitude Assessment (DAA) 

You’ll be tested on: Verbal Reasoning, Numerical Reasoning, Work Rate, Spatial Reasoning, Electrical Comprehension and Mechanical Comprehension.
To prepare, you can practise the DAA

practise the DAA
Step 3

Interview

A formal interview to talk through your suitability for the role. This is normally conducted using your own device over the Shine video platform
Step 4

Candidate Preparation Course (CPC)

This four-day induction to life in the Royal Navy, including a Swimming Test and a fitness assessment, is a pass or fail course
CPC
Step 5

Start training

Once you’ve passed a Security Check, you’ll be offered a place at HMS Raleigh

Career Progression

From responsibilities to pay, find out where this role can take you.
DAY 1
Following Defence Medical Training you will move on to submariner training
YEAR ONE
All training takes up the first year. Looking after patients on the boat.
FIRST PROMOTION
Accelerated promotion to Leading Hand providing you pass task book
SECOND PROMOTION

Promotion to Petty Officer (Medical Assistant) (POMA) will be on merit. As a POMA you could have an instructor's role

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