Paramedics

[chiron]

Hello all, I am looking at joining the reserves, but have a few questions.....


Can anyone tell me why the RAF does not recognise state registered paramedics?

Seems Doctors, Nurses, Radiographers, Biomedical scientists all get professional recognition but not paramedics......

Any particular reason for this?

 

[penfold93]

Welcome to the Goat chiron it may be worth reading here and putting something down in the introductions thread before ranting you may get a better response

 

[Defender of the universe]

Hello all, I am looking at joining the reserves, but have a few questions.....


Can anyone tell me why the RAF does not recognise state registered paramedics?

Seems Doctors, Nurses, Radiographers, Biomedical scientists all get professional recognition but not paramedics......

Any particular reason for this?

Probably cause youre over qualified and would make our bunch look like toatl numpties.

 

[Squidward]

The RAF does recognise Paramedics and employs them to good effect on Ops. It may well be, though, that for reasons of manning and funding, the reserves are somewhat behind the curve in reflecting the make-up of the regular force. Similar issues feature in the TA.

 

[crabmabb]

that was my question to the group captain in charge of paramedic training. even the paramedics trained in service are not recognised as paramedics. His response was that paramedic is a q annotation and not a trade and as so can't be paid in acordance with the AFPRB. so the motivation for paramedics to join up is to get paid £12000 a year less than civvy, and not hold any rank unless deployed. this probably explains the rapidly dwindling numbers of paramedics in the RAF.

 

[penfold93]

Hello all, I am looking at joining the reserves, but have a few questions.....


Can anyone tell me why the RAF does not recognise state registered paramedics?

Seems Doctors, Nurses, Radiographers, Biomedical scientists all get professional recognition but not paramedics......

Any particular reason for this?

The professions you mentioned are all trades within the RAF and so are recognised professional qualifications that require a minimum degree level qual if you wish to join as such as CM points out Paramedic is not an RAF recognised trade so its either join as a medic or not.

 

[chiron]

The professions you mentioned are all trades within the RAF and so are recognised professional qualifications that require a minimum degree level qual if you wish to join as such as CM points out Paramedic is not an RAF recognised trade so its either join as a medic or not.

I realise that regular RAF Paramedics fall under the Med Asst or Med Admin trade groups. Why could Paramedics not be in the same trade group as Nurses ???

You pointed out recognised professional qualifications, and degree quals.

The Health Professions Council (HPC) registers Health care professionals that meet the criteria for recognition.

Biomedical scientists,
radiographers,
Physiotherapists,
Operating Department practitioners,

And Paramedics.....

The RAF and RAuxAF is, in my view, being shorted sighted regarding paramedics.

Either regular or reserve.....if you want people to work as paramedics then at the very least call them paramedics not medical assistants.

 

[penfold93]

I realise that regular RAF Paramedics fall under the Med Asst or Med Admin trade groups. Why could Paramedics not be in the same trade group as Nurses ???
You pointed out recognised professional qualifications, and degree quals.

The Health Professions Council (HPC) registers Health care professionals that meet the criteria for recognition.

Biomedical scientists,
radiographers,
Physiotherapists,
Operating Department practitioners,

And Paramedics.....

The RAF and RAuxAF is, in my view, being shorted sighted regarding
paramedics.

Either regular or reserve.....if you want people to work as paramedics then at the very least call them paramedics not medical assistants.

All the trades you have mentioned are in the same trade group (TG15) and it would be unfair to bunch paramedics in the same as nurses as we are PMRAFNS and a three year full time nursing diploma /degree is a tad different from the training of paramedics. I am not belittling the role of the paramedic or the excellent job that they do but at this time Paramedic is not recognised as a trade and to be honest it would very difficult to justify placing it as a separate entity as the numbers required to fulfil current operational commitments and allow for stand down would be totally unworkable it would also mean that the current medics would be unable to practice their clinical skills and stay current. So whilst i can see your view point in aint ever going to happen

 

[chiron]

Seems a real same that paramedics are not formally recognsied by the RAF.

I know it is only in name, and there are RAF paramedics doing a good job (as event by the paramedic of the year award earlier this year), but I think it is important to be recognised for the job you are employed to do, would you not agree?

There is a huge untapped resource of NHS paramedics out there, that could work well for the RAF. (As plenty of NHS nurses, doctors etc do.......)

The RAF would get all the benefits without having to train paramedics......

Are the powers that be really stubborn on this point, is it a pay issue?

 

[Kernow]

Either regular or reserve.....if you want people to work as paramedics then at the very least call them paramedics not medical assistants.

IMO that would be the same as saying that a rigger that has been trained to work on Tonkas should be called a Tonka Tech, the name is irrelevant they joined as Medical Assistants and by definition of their Job Specs they still are Medical Assistants.

Seems a real same that paramedics are not formally recognsied by the RAF.

I know it is only in name, and there are RAF paramedics doing a good job (as event by the paramedic of the year award earlier this year), but I think it is important to be recognised for the job you are employed to do, would you not agree?

There is a huge untapped resource of NHS paramedics out there, that could work well for the RAF. (As plenty of NHS nurses, doctors etc do.......)

The RAF would get all the benefits without having to train paramedics......

Are the powers that be really stubborn on this point, is it a pay issue?

What are you suggesting here, is this simply to recruit as reservists paramedics or are you leaning towards not having Medical Assistants qualified as Paramedics.

TBH I think that you are asking some leading questions here but I am sure that Penfold will know more.

 

[penfold93]

There are reservist medical sqns 4626 and 612 but are there such a surplus of paramedics out there who are willing to give up nearly 7 months of the year that they are deployed (how happy are the employers going to be) they have to be trained up, medically fit security checked etc, etc the logistics are immense and quite frankly unworkable. Are you all trained to work out of military helicopters I think not. Those medics and nurses that go out on IRT have had plenty of military training as well as trade training to be able to fulfil the IRT/paramedic role in an operational setting.

 

[chiron]

Are you all trained to work out of military helicopters I think not.

Penfold,

I really was nt trying to suggest that NHS bods are the solution to all the RAF problems regarding paramedics…..(Honestly) Most NHS paras are a liability most of the time!

I have no experience of working on any helicopters, or in a hostile environment. To be honest I am bored in my day job, still enjoy ambulance work but the amount of wasters who call us gets you down after a while. That’s why I am looking at the RAF…..

Hope that makes sense…….
And thanks for taking the time to post……

(Still keen on pursuing an application with the reserves BTW)

 

[stuby]

Sorry it's a bit late but I've only recently found out about e-goat
Ref Paramedics Things are about to change with Auxiliary Paramedics contact 4626 Sqn.

 

[POB]

Penfold,

I really was nt trying to suggest that NHS bods are the solution to all the RAF problems regarding paramedics…..(Honestly) Most NHS paras are a liability most of the time!

I have no experience of working on any helicopters, or in a hostile environment. To be honest I am bored in my day job, still enjoy ambulance work but the amount of wasters who call us gets you down after a while. That’s why I am looking at the RAF…..

Hope that makes sense…….
And thanks for taking the time to post……

(Still keen on pursuing an application with the reserves BTW)

A friend of mine on 4626Sqn has been called up twice so far, once for Iraq and once for Afghan. They are ALL being called up but many are doing jobs that are way below their (civil) quaifications. To say anymore would start to compromise them, but please feel free to get in contact with 4626, they are based at Lyneham. I'll get their number if you want!

 

[Tigger]

Most NHS paras are a liability most of the time!

From what I've seen, and I work with the ambulance service a lot, the paramedics are exremely competent.

 

[chiron]

Tigger, sorry I was being facetious.........DT_Xtremez_15: we're not all that bad.....

Cheers for the update on 4626, I have found their page on the RauxAF website...

 

[kevin999s]

From what I've seen, and I work with the ambulance service a lot, the paramedics are exremely competent.

That's because you work in a decent area Tigger - go slightly North and you'll find a slightly less refined bunch...

 

[kevin999s]

Tigger, sorry I was being facetious.........DT_Xtremez_15: we're not all that bad.....

Cheers for the update on 4626, I have found their page on the RauxAF website...

612 in Scotland are going the same way too - probably have more hope with them due to changing roles and stuff

 

[hope2421]

All the trades you have mentioned are in the same trade group (TG15) and it would be unfair to bunch paramedics in the same as nurses as we are PMRAFNS and a three year full time nursing diploma /degree is a tad different from the training of paramedics. I am not belittling the role of the paramedic or the excellent job that they do but at this time Paramedic is not recognised as a trade and to be honest it would very difficult to justify placing it as a separate entity as the numbers required to fulfil current operational commitments and allow for stand down would be totally unworkable it would also mean that the current medics would be unable to practice their clinical skills and stay current. So whilst i can see your view point in aint ever going to happen

You say unfair to bunch paramedics the same as nurses who have done a three year diploma/degree and then say its a tad different! Do you have any idea of the knowldge and training involved to become a paramedic? I could do you job tomorrow but you wouldnt be able to do mine, everybody has there role but dont run down other peoples untill you at least know what they do and how long and hard it was to get there.

 

[kevin999s]

You say unfair to bunch paramedics the same as nurses who have done a three year diploma/degree and then say its a tad different! Do you have any idea of the knowldge and training involved to become a paramedic? I could do you job tomorrow but you wouldnt be able to do mine, everybody has there role but dont run down other peoples untill you at least know what they do and how long and hard it was to get there.

Paramedic is a relatively new concept within the NHS. It's only over the past few years that training has been standardised and the title protected - some Paramedics who have grandparented the title over have done little/no formalised training. The foprmal training for paramedic is less than that of a registered nurse and is mostly based on an initial assessment and management of a patient in crisis. The basis of nursing is holistic care right up to point of discharge, not just dropping them at the front door.