The impact of advanced practice on the paramedic profession
Date: Thursday 23rd May 2024
We will hear about the changes that have been made, in all four nations, to drive the profession forward.
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Neil Sinclair Chief Paramedic Officer, Northern Ireland Ambulance Service
Neil started his career in the Scottish Ambulance Service over 20 years ago. Over his career, he has gained experience in different clinical and leadership posts. He moved to the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service in 2020 and is currently in the post of Chief Paramedic Officer. His interest and passion for doing the job is to continually develop the profession, challenging traditional ways of working and delivering the best possible patient care. Outside work, he lives in county down with his wife and young family and attempts to mountain bike when possible!
Kerry Robertshaw, Professional Development Lead- Advanced Practice and Vice President college of Paramedics, WAST & COP
In 2017, Kerry believes WAST at the time had very little understanding of how to utilise the Advanced Practice workforce and so decided to move into Primary Care to obtain the supervision and mentorship that she felt the role needed. 'It was an interesting move, with very little set up to support paramedics in this area of practice and I found myself developing leadership skills by accident as I tried to pave a way forward to allow paramedics to align to other Primary Care scopes and skill sets.' When the opportunity developed in WAST to support the delivery of rotational working for Advanced Paramedics into Primary and Urgent Care settings, she jumped at the chance to provide more support and consistency for this workforce on a national level. Kerry now has a diverse portfolio career across the 4 pillars of advanced practice and maintains her clinical practice with weekly shifts in Primary Care. 'Being invited to the Primary and Urgent Care Specialist Interest Group for the devolved nations (PUCSIG) ran by the college, gave me an increased awareness of all the college is doing to support our profession and further led to me applying for the trustee role of Vice President.'
Georgette Eaton, Consultant Paramedic Urgent Care, London Ambulance Service NHS Trust
Georgette is the Consultant Paramedic in Urgent Care at London Ambulance Service NHS Trust. Prior to this appointment, Georgette was the Clinical Practice Development Manager for the Advanced Paramedic Practitioner Urgent Care team in the LAS, which under her leadership became incorporated as business as usual within the Trust and is now a significant part of the Trust clinical strategy. Alongside her work in the LAS, Georgette completed her DPhil in Evidence Based Healthcare at the University of Oxford in January this year, with her work focusing on paramedics working in primary care
Gillian Macleod, Associate Director, Care Quality and Professional Development, Scottish Ambulance Service
Gillian is currently the Interim Associate Director for Care Quality and Professional Development at the Scottish Ambulance Service. Dual registered as an Advanced Paramedic and Nurse, in recent years she has led the introduction and development of Advanced Practice and Independent Prescribing within the Scottish Ambulance Service. A 28-year career with NHS Scotland spans remote, rural and urban regions, reflecting a diverse experience in pre-hospital, secondary and primary healthcare environments. As a clinical leader, she is dedicated to delivering high-quality, patient-centred care and promoting the benefits of multi-disciplinary working. Gillian previously served as the National Education Adviser, Scotland for the College of Paramedics and has represented AHP’s and Nursing at a senior level on a wide range of forums. Currently, alongside her duties within the SAS, she is studying towards a PhD, researching the application of Remote Patient Monitoring within the context of emergency and urgent care.