Prescribing paramedics welcomed

Three Advanced Paramedics from the Welsh Ambulance Service have passed their university courses to become the UK's first ever ambulance service prescribing paramedics.

Following the change in UK legislation in April 2018 and Welsh amendments this year, Advanced Paramedics can now be trained to prescribe from a formulary of medications to enhance community-based care, improve patient access to healthcare options and expand patient choice.

Advanced Paramedics Berwyn Jones, Georgina Passmore and Elton Green have now successfully completed their training which started in the autumn of 2018, with another two of their colleagues Mike Jenkins and Emma Nurse set to join them in August and September respectively.

Health Education and Improvement Wales funded the first five Welsh Ambulance Service places in university across Wales with a further five funded advanced paramedics planned to start their courses in the autumn of 2019.

In a move to further support the skilled care of patients as close to their homes as possible, the Welsh Ambulance Service is leading the way in creating new ways of working collaboratively with Health Board partners to deliver care within rotational models in primary care and GP Out-of-Hours Services. The groundbreaking addition of prescribing skills will support advanced paramedic practitioners to deliver modern and bespoke clinical services, enhancing opportunities to deliver the right care to the right patient, at the right time.

Andy Swinburn, Assistant Director of Paramedicine at the Welsh Ambulance Service commented: "This is a great moment of pride for the Welsh Ambulance. The demands and needs of our population are evolving and we want to be at the forefront of the transformation of emergency care. Training our staff to become prescribers enables our paramedics to be at the heart of a patient's recovery while allowing our staff to reach their full potential as front-line healthcare care professionals."