A day as a prison paramedic

While training at university, I learned that paramedics no longer work solely on ambulances. Consequently, I considered my long-term aspirations, aiming to work eventually in an urgent care centre or GP surgery, and found my career unintentionally heading in that direction quite early on in primary care.

Less than a year after qualifying, I applied for and successfully landed a job in a high-security prison. The Trust I'm employed by has less than 10 paramedics embedded within prison settings. The overall aim of the Trust is to provide a primary healthcare service akin to that in the community.

A standard day involves an early start to be ready for when the prison regime begins. Following this, my primary role will be to attend the wings for urgent concerns, acute exacerbations of illnesses and injuries, triaging appropriately to pathways held within the prison. These pathways include link nurses such as respiratory and diabetes, long-term conditions, an advanced nurse practitioner and GPs within physical health with the aim to prevent acute hospital admissions. We also have an onsite pharmacy for prescription medication. We have developed strong ties with local hospitals for referrals without the need of a GP for acute issues such as transient ischaemic attack (TIA) clinics, urology and respiratory, creating care plans for patients who have repeated and ongoing matters.