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Clinical roles

If a patient needs an emergency response, they can expect to come into contact with one or more of our clinicians depending on their condition:

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    Emergency Care Assistants (ECAs) and Emergency Care Support Workers (ECSWs)

    Emergency Care Assistants (ECAs) and Emergency Care Support Workers (ECSWs) - drive ambulances under emergency conditions and support the work of qualified ambulance technicians and paramedics. We have 33 Emergency Care Assistants (ECAs) and 109 Emergency Care Support Workers (ECSWs)

  • Technicians

    Technicians - respond to emergency calls as well as a range of planned and unplanned non-emergency cases. They support paramedics during the assessment, diagnosis and treatment of patients and during the journey to hospital. We have 957 technicians

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    Paramedics

    Paramedics – respond to emergency calls and deal with complex non–emergency hospital admissions, discharges and transfers. They work as part of a rapid response unit, usually with support from an ambulance technician or ECA or ECSW. They meet people’s need for immediate care or treatment. We have 550 paramedics.

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    Paramedic Practitioners (PP)

    Paramedic Practitioners (PPs) - are paramedics who have undergone additional education and training to equip them with greater patient assessment and management skills. They are able to diagnose a wide range of conditions and are skilled to treat many minor injuries and illnesses. PPs are also able to “signpost” care – referring patients to specialists in the community such as GPs, community nurses or social care professionals. They can also refer patients to hospital specialists, thus avoiding the need to be seen in A&E first. We currently have 52 qualified paramedic practitioners plus an additional 60 student paramedic practitioners.

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    Critical Care Paramedics (CCP)

    Critical Care Paramedics (CCPs) - are paramedics who have undergone additional education and training to work in the critical care environment, both pre-hospitally and by undertaking Intensive Care transfers between hospitals. Often working alongside doctors at the scene, they can treat patients suffering from critical illness or injury, providing intensive support and therapy, and ensuring the patient is taken rapidly and safely to a hospital that is able to treat their complex needs. They are able to assess and diagnose illness and injuries and treat patients using more powerful drugs and use equipment on scene that up to now was only used in hospital. We have 22 critical care paramedics (including five seconded to the air ambulance), with a further eight student critical care paramedics.

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    Emergency Dispatch Centre staff

    Emergency Dispatch Centre staff – more than 500 staff work in the Trust’s three Emergency Dispatch Centres in a variety of roles including Emergency Call Operators, Dispatchers, Duty Dispatch Managers and Clinical Desk staff. These staff are responsible for receiving every one of the emergency calls received from the Trust, providing support and clinical advice to callers as needed and co-ordinating the most appropriate response to send to the patient.

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