By Sara Thomas
Daily Post
WREXHAM, Wales — A new breed of ‘super’ paramedics — the first of their kind in the UK — are taking to the roads of North Wales.
The Welsh Ambulance Service is setting up a network of highly-skilled and equipped specialist practitioners across the region ready not just to respond to emergencies but also to make decisions about aftercare.
They will undergo specialised training to graduate and postgraduate level to equip them for their new role.
One of the first appointments is Graham Williams, for Flintshire and Wrexham.
He said: “It is a very exciting role and one that will move the ambulance service forward by having a major impact on patient outcomes, delivering the right interventions in the right place at the right time.
“If we can stop an emergency ambulance then that vehicle is then going to be released to deal with the Mike Cassidy real emergency work.”
The service’s consultant paramedic Andrew Jenkins said: “We’re going to have a new kind of paramedic out there, an ambulance clinician, not just providing immediate emergency care but also making decisions about the sort of continuing care the patient needs. “They will often be able to treat patients at home, significantly reducing the number of people sent to A&E and signposting them towards continuing care.”
The service’s advanced care practitioner Tim Jones added that across the UK up to one million patients a year are taken unnecessarily to A&E departments.
He said: “The new grade of clinician, known as specialist practitioner - paramedic/nurses, will have sufficient training and education to better manage those with serious conditions, such as asthma, and arrange care, often in their own homes.”
Mike Cassidy, Deputy Chief Executive of the Welsh Ambulance Service, added: “It’s about upskilling.
“If we can treat someone quickly and appropriately in their own home then that represents a far better standard of care and service for everyone concerned than to take them to hospital.”
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