Paramedics in the United Kingdom

Emergency medical personnel in the United Kingdom are people engaged in the provision of emergency medical services and this includes paramedics, emergency medical technicians and emergency care assistants. 'Paramedic' is a protected title, strictly regulated by the Health and Care Professions Council, although there is tendency for the public to use this term when referring to any member of ambulance staff.

Emergency medical personnel most often work in an ambulance alongside another member of staff. Typically, an ambulance will be crewed by either a paramedic with another crew member (technician or emergency care assistant), two technicians or a technician with an emergency support worker. No NHS ambulance trust in the country currently offers a paramedic on every ambulance. Further to this ambulance staff at technician or paramedic grade may drive solo responder rapid response vehicles (RRV) after completion of a two-day driving course to familiarise them with the RRVs.

The majority of emergency medical personnel are employed by the public ambulance services of the National Health Service, although many are also employed by private ambulance companies and the two voluntary aid societies (British Red Cross and St. John Ambulance), either providing private services such as event medical cover, or providing support to the NHS ambulance services under contract.

As part of a cost-saving exercise NHS is in the process of phasing out the ambulance technician/emergency medical technician (Band 4 on the Agenda for Change) role from the services and replacing it with the Emergency Care Support Worker or Emergency Care Assistant roles (Band 3 on the A4C), and most services are no longer training staff at technician level.

The specific skills performed by each group of emergency medical personnel will be dictated by a combination of training, the legal framework and the policies of their employer. The most homogenous group is the paramedics, as the framework of practice is largely dictated by their status as registered healthcare professionals, although local policy differences are still in effect.

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