Strategic Plan 2014: a five-year strategy for the College of Paramedics

‘The College of Paramedics’ Governing Council and Executive team have been working with Professor Barry Hunt to establish a strategy document that will lead the College's activities and effort through the next few years. With the rapid development of the paramedic profession and the College itself, it is now vital to ensure that we continue in a well-targeted direction in representing our members and the wider profession. We are exceptionally grateful for the tireless efforts and the experience that Barry has brought to this project and look forward to continue working with him to achieve the goals set out in the Strategic Plan and other projects in the future’ David Hodge, chief executive, College of Paramedics.

There are currently more than 19 500 paramedics registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) in the UK. In October 2013 approximately 19% of the current UK paramedic registrants with the HCPC were College members. The College, initially established as the British Paramedic Association in 2003, is a young professional body and will seek to grow substantially its membership base from this relatively low level. The aim is to be the national voice of the majority of professional paramedics and provide an essential component for the future development of the profession. To support this aim the College will continue to strengthen its employee base and the network of elected officials and external consultants whose effort, expertise and dedication will be essential to the future development of the profession through this challenging period. For example, the recently released report from the Paramedic Evidence-based Education Project (PEEP) (available by link both on Health Education England (HEE) and the College websites) illustrates the impact that the profession could have on healthcare delivery. The report offers the view that ‘engagement of the paramedic workforce with pre-hospital urgent care and prevention of (unnecessary) hospital admission should be of benefit to the wider community.’ This view is entirely supported by our College, whose members feel furthermore that this is consistent with the evolving role of our profession; it is imperative that we have a strong paramedic organisation to make our collective representation in any future debate related to the PEEP recommendations.