ABSTRACT

This chapter describes the current and potential future roles for paramedics in primary healthcare and examines the supervisory requirements for safe practice for patients. The role of paramedics in providing high-quality patient care in urgent and emergency situations through the UK 999 system is well established. In the UK the move towards paramedicine contributing significantly to the primary care workforce has been more borne out of challenges to recruit more traditional roles than by joined-up strategic thinking by policymakers. The professional vulnerability engendered by the nature of 999 work and the reluctance of organisational systems to support the diverse nature of it is common in the paramedic workforce. Paramedic education and training have developed rapidly, moving from a brief introduction to emergency management to a system in which an undergraduate degree is the minimum entry point. Examples of improved collaboration between paramedic services and primary care demonstrate that benefits are available beyond the traditional practice-based model of care.