Today’s story on Sky News highlights once again how the ambulance sector in the UK has long been facing serious concerns regarding continued unacceptable sexualised behaviour. Reports have highlighted a pervasive culture of sexual harassment and misogyny, affecting many staff members, particularly women. This behaviour is completely unacceptable and undermines the safety and wellbeing of those dedicated to improving and saving lives.  
 
It is imperative that the work which is underway from the Ambulance Cultural Review Delivery Board continues and that all ambulance services sustain and accelerate their actions to address these issues as they are having a profound effect on individuals who face this type of behaviour from their peers and managers, and we support the work to continue fostering a culture of respect and safety for all staff.  
 
We will continue to hold listening events for all members and thank you to those of you who have courageously told us your stories as this drives us to ensure change remains a key focus of the College.

Government seeks to reform the Mental Health Act, improve NHS waiting times and restrict the sale of tobacco products.

The King's Speech 2024 has set out the priorities of the new Labour Government in Westminster, announcing more than 35 bills and draft bills aimed at supporting economic growth.

In terms of Health policy, the Government commits to take steps to improve the National Health Service for everyone – including reducing waiting times and focusing on prevention.  

• Mental Health Bill aims to ensure mental health is given the same attention and focus as physical health, and ministers will work to modernise the Mental Health Act.

• Legislation will be brought in to help stop young people smoking and vaping, with a Bill to be introduced to progressively increase the age at which people can buy cigarettes and impose limits on the sale and marketing of vapes.

• In other parts of the speech, the Digital Information and Smart Data Bill aims to harness the power of data for economic growth to improve people’s lives, including a move to an electronic system for the registration of births and deaths, and applying information standards to IT suppliers in the health and social care system.

The College of Paramedics welcomes these commitments to health and wellbeing and we will continue our work with policymakers and stakeholders to demonstrate how our members play a vital part in delivering and transforming healthcare. d to the vellum copy, the Crown office will contact the College to arrange for collection.

The College of Paramedics is dedicated to providing you with the very best support services and offering you access to the relevant tools, CPD, guidance and representation during every stage of your professional career so that you can achieve the highest possible standards of patient care.

Our desire to invest in our member experience is at the very heart of what we do and we wish to express our heartfelt thanks for your continued support, enabling the College to represent your voice collectively with policy and decision-makers across the UK and to promote and advance the paramedic profession.

In order to continue to work effectively and be financially sustainable, today we are announcing updates to our membership fees from October 1, 2024.

Whilst we appreciate and understand that this is a financially challenging time for many of you, we have made every effort to minimise how much we pass on to our membership.

Please find the full list of 2024 membership fees below, with the assurance that fees will continue to be reviewed annually.

Individual membership fees per year;
         

• Securing Royal Charter status
• Successfully campaigning for a change in legislation to allow prescribing of controlled drugs by paramedic independent prescribers
• Launching the ParaMEdic Project
• Speaking out publicly and supporting student paramedics who have experienced sexual harassment, bullying and inappropriate behaviour within the ambulance service
• Delivering our first manifesto, which introduces the key issues we need politicians and decision-makers to be aware of and work with us on to support the profession
• Welcoming a new President, Vice-president and respective new Chairs of the Paramedic Council and Student Council  
• Represented our members at the Scottish COVID -19 Inquiry

• Free of charge Fitness to Practise representation, up to £100,000
• £5million medical malpractice and public liability insurance for private work undertaken which amounts to £5K or less each year
• Access to our national network of CPD events
• Discounts on a range of products and services
• Peer support for those going through Fitness to Practise proceedings and free legal representation at HCPC regulatory hearings
• Access to over 500 videos on the CPD Hub
• A quarterly membership magazine and monthly digital newsletter
• 24 Hour Legal Helpline available to full members for fitness to practise matters
• Representation before government, employers, policy-makers and other external stakeholders
• Research undertaken on behalf of the profession
• Bespoke App released May 2024
• Our National Conference which is designed to educate, inform, entertain and support you in your development as a paramedic
• Representation in your education and career development

Following the recent announcement of the General Election 2024 – which will take place on the 4th of July. We’ve prepared a selection of useful information and links.

On 4 July polling stations will be open between 07:00 and 22:00 

If you have registered, you can vote…
• In person at a polling station 
• Apply for a postal vote (deadline is 17:00 Wednesday 19 June)
• Or you can nominate a proxy, someone to vote on your behalf. You and your proxy must both be registered to vote (deadline 17:00 Wednesday 26 June)

If you are working a shift on 4 July don’t forget you can apply for a postal vote https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/i-am-a/voter/apply-vote-post

The College of Paramedics published our manifesto back in February, with 9 keys issues we are engaging with politicians on.

Coming soon – we’ll be sharing summaries and analysis of political party manifestos

Please get in in touch if you need more information or have further suggestions 
Mandy Powell, Policy & Public Affairs
mandy.powell@collegeofparamedics.co.uk

Some useful links

• Register to vote https://www.gov.uk/register-to-vote
• Find your MP https://members.parliament.uk/FindYourMP
• Since May 2023, voters have to show a valid form of photo ID at polling stations to vote in person at a general election. Click here for the list of acceptable forms of ID - https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/voting-and-elections/voter-id/accepted-forms-photo-id

The College of Paramedics is excited to announce our new Trustees and member representatives. 

Benjamin Haselwood as our next Trustee (Education),  

Jonathan Davies as Trustee (Membership),  

Ed Harry as Trustee (Research)  

Jaqualine Lindridge as Trustee (Professional Standards),  

Keith Dorrington as Wales Member Representative and  

Kevin Cowan as Eastern Member Representative.   

Giles Adams will continue in the role of Honorary Treasurer

and Samantha Barry will continue in the South East. 

In the 2024 Elections, there were 19 really strong candidates who stood across the five trustee positions, and four for the three Paramedic Council seats. We are extremely grateful to all of them for their participation and the commitment they have shown the College. The CES report of voting can be viewed here.
Our trustees are legally responsible for the College as a charity, they have an oversight role and seek assurance from the Chief Executive that the organisation is legally and financially sound and complying with its charitable purpose, outlined in the College charitable objects within the Articles of Association.
The Paramedic Council is part of the College governance structure and helps to steer and shape the College’s ongoing work and future aspirations by providing a platform for representatives to advocate for their members, ensuring a strong and articulate voice in all that the College does, and by providing a clear and vital communication channel between the College and members.
As you will be aware, four members of the Board of Trustees will be coming to the end of their tenure at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) in May 2024, all of whom have been invaluable in their roles as members of the Board as well as their support for various workstreams within the College.
Vince Clarke, outgoing Trustee (Education), has provided years of support to the education directorate, ensuring that the structure has evolved with the growing workload has enabled governance and quality assurance to remain at the core. He has provided an invaluable contribution of time, knowledge and skills, including his work on the Practice Educator Handbook, which is central to the continued pursuance of quality and consistency of education for our paramedic learners.
Georgette Eaton, outgoing Trustee (Research), has made substantial contributions to enhancing the research landscape within the paramedic community. She has effectively championed the integration of research into clinical practice and advocated for increased visibility of research activities in the College. She will leave behind a strengthened foundation for ongoing research and innovation in the professional body.
Richard Webber, outgoing Trustee (Membership and Communication), has constantly shown his commitment and readiness to help fulfil the College’s media. Despite the demands of a busy day job and the immediacy dictated to by the press, he always made time for media requests and proved to be an excellent and trusted communicator. The College believes that Richard, together with the other media spokespeople, has helped raise the profile of the College to the public and stakeholders alike and made a valuable contribution towards increasing awareness about the issues facing the profession today. 
Rory O’Connor, outgoing Chair of Council, has worked hard to embed the newly developed Paramedic Council into the governance of the College since 2021. He has been supportive of his fellow Council members and represented them and the members with the Board of Trustees. Rory has ensured that he asked important questions of the Chief Executive, Tracy Nicholls and her team, while always acknowledging their hard work and the challenges they face.
After careful consideration, Fauziya Lakhi decided to step down a few months earlier than the end of her first term as Trustee (Professional Standards), due to increased commitments outside of the role. This is an important, though difficult, decision for any trustee to make and we have expressed our thanks to Fauziya, both for her time and dedication to the role, as well as for being clear when she was unable to continue.

Today the government has announced an ambitious five-year plan to combat the increase in antimicrobial resistance. The College strongly supports this position and firmly believes that paramedics have an important part to play in the strategy including;
- Prevention of infection through good infection prevention and control measures.
- Optimising use of antimicrobials agents, either through the appropriate use of those antimicrobials available on Patient Group Directions  (PGDs) or by ensuring appropriate prescribing by paramedic independent prescribers.

Further information is available here - UK 5-year action plan for antimicrobial resistance 2024 to 2029 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

For any further support or information required on this matter, please contact the College here - enquiries@collegeofparamedics.co.uk 

The crucial issue of mental health and wellbeing of healthcare staff is of national priority (NHS England, 2021), with healthcare workers experiencing mental health issues at a higher rate than the general population. Stress, anxiety, depression, and burnout are all common due to factors like workload, exposure to trauma, and shift work. For ambulance services this has arguably never been more relevant with ambulance clinicians being more likely than other emergency services personnel to experience poor wellbeing and mental health challenges (Mind 2019) and are at an increased risk of death by suicide (AACE 2021). Student paramedic placements are a crucial part of the journey to becoming a qualified paramedic however, they can also be demanding and stressful. Contributing factors include repeated exposure to traumatic and emotionally laborious incidents, shift work and operational pressures (Hong & Pelzer 2017) with pre-registration and newly qualified staff being identified as significant risk groups. Studies have shown that there is a high prevalence of anxiety, depression and PTSD among paramedic students (Fjeldheim, et al., 2014 and McKinnon et al., 2021) and that practice placement is likely to subject students to increased sources of stress (Deasy, et al., 2014).

NHS England (previously Health Education England) commissioned the College of Paramedics to undertake the ‘Future Workforce Mental Health Project’ in response to the ongoing psychological risks to those entering the ambulance profession. Academic leads Emma Geis and Katie Pavoni have been working on multiple interventions as part of this project including new curriculum guidance on personal mental health and wellbeing in pre-registration paramedic training and the development of a wellbeing and recovery support tool. The aim of the project is to ensure that mental health and wellbeing is integrated into the entire student educational journey and to create a network of support throughout the undergraduate period and into the workforce.

As part of the project a literature review was undertaken to determine the kind of information available in publications internationally about the mental health and wellbeing of undergraduate pre-registration paramedic students during practice placements. A scoping review was completed to systematically map the research done around student paramedic practice placement experience and to identify existing gaps in knowledge in this area. 

Results of this scoping review have highlighted several themes in the literature that were relevant to the mental health and wellbeing of undergraduate pre-registration paramedic students during practice placements. The themes identified included the quality of the wellbeing support and preparation for paramedic student ambulance-based practice placement, the culture and environment of the placement provider and work-related stress and its impact on student paramedic mental health and wellbeing.

Following on from the literature review a survey was developed to explore the student experience of clinical placements and to assess the impact placements might have on student health and wellbeing. We would also like to explore current support mechanisms available and whether these are being accessed by students. 

We are asking all undergraduate pre-registration paramedic students, studying in the United Kingdom, to take part in this survey which will discuss their mental health and wellbeing during practice placement and the support mechanisms that are accessible and accessed by students. This survey is open to all paramedic students currently enrolled on an undergraduate programme and students accessing the apprenticeship paramedic student pathway. The survey should be completed by students who are currently on or have recently completed a practice placement.
The information from the scoping review and the student placement survey will further inform the ‘Future Workforce Mental Health Project’ around the specific mental health challenges faced by paramedic students during practice placement and offer further insight into the guidance and support that can be provided both during the course and into the workplace.

If you are a student paramedic who is currently on or recently finished placement, we would love to hear from you. Please follow the link to complete the Student Paramedic Practice Placement Wellbeing Survey.

For further information please follow the link:
https://qfreeaccountssjc1.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9Sva0cw2PiDEKkm

Our response to the consultation on the professional standards authority's good practice guidance documents in support of regulatory reform can be found here.  

We had a great response to our recent survey asking members what they thought of the UK Government’s consultation on a separate pay spine for nurses. Over a thousand members responded, with over 200 sharing extra information on their experience of Agenda for Change, and thoughts about a separate pay band. 

Chief Executive Tracy Nicholls said
“ I want to thank members for engaging with us and taking the time to complete our survey, some key topics stood out, including concerns about how a separate pay spine for one profession could have unintended consequences for other health professionals. The College is drafting a response to the consultation, and we will make sure your concerns and suggestions are included.” 

Our consultation response can be found here

Set to ignite sparks of innovation we are really looking forward to delivering our College of Paramedics Research Conference 2024, which will be taking place on Tuesday, May 21st, at the Leonardo Hotel, Hinckley Island, Leicester. At the forefront of paramedic research this stimulating event precedes our National Conference, offering a double dose of insight and inspiration under one roof.

Join us as we dive deep into the dynamic realm of paramedic research, spotlighting groundbreaking studies that are reshaping the landscape of unscheduled urgent and emergency care across the UK. From cutting-edge advancements to practical applications, discover how research is driving excellence in emergency medical services across various clinical settings.

Gain first hand insights into the challenges and triumphs encountered by UK paramedics and explore how research directly impacts paramedic practice nationwide. Connect with leading experts, researchers, and peers to forge valuable connections, exchange ideas, and collaborate on projects that will propel your professional growth forward.

Prepare to be inspired by our lineup of influential keynote speakers, each offering unique perspectives and invaluable contributions to the field of paramedic research. Plus, don't miss the exhilarating Dragon's Den-style research proposal event, where your ideas will face critique, challenges, and questions from a multidisciplinary expert panel—a blend of fun and learning unlike any other!

As we unite to collaborate for change, seize the opportunity to be at the forefront of the research movement driving current and future developments in paramedicine. Together, let's address challenges, drive innovation, and ultimately, improve patient outcomes.

Secure your spot now to access the full conference programme, lunch and refreshments are included, and you’ll receive a certificate of attendance. Members of the College of Paramedics can join us for just £55, while non-members are only £75.

Don't miss your chance to be part of this transformative event—register today and join us in shaping the future of paramedic practice! Book now here!