It gives us great pleasure to be writing the first column as a regular feature for the Journal of Paramedic Practice (JPP) as part of a new partnership with the College of Paramedics. The JPP is offering members of the College a package that includes all annual issues of the JPP, the International Paramedic Practice journal along with all the monthly continuing professional development (CPD) modules.
The package has been designed to provide the full range of JPP products for a significantly discounted subscription and through convenient quarterly direct debit payments. Under the new partnership arrangement, which began in December 2011, the JPP will also publish the College's quarterly newsletter. We are delighted with this new and exciting partnership and look forward to working with the JPP as the official partner journal of the College of Paramedics.
Our history
Paramedics were registered in 2001 under the Council for Professions Supplementary to Medicine (CPSM) and then later under the Health Professions Council (HPC). The professional body was formed as the British Paramedic Association (BPA) in 2001, became the College of Paramedics in 2007 and reached its tenth anniversary during 2011. The founders of the BPA, and more recently the elected office-holders of the College of Paramedics, have worked tirelessly to ensure that paramedics have a formal body that can represent them on issues that would not be within the remit of other bodies. Due to the rapidly evolving nature and relative infancy of our profession it is understandable that many paramedics raise questions about the individual roles of the regulator and professional body. In this context, before describing the role of the College of Paramedics, a short overview of the roles of the other bodies follows:
The regulator
As part of the essential legal framework surrounding a registered profession, a regulator has to be identified or established with certain key duties focusing upon protection of the public, which are defined by statute. The regulator's role is to protect the public and it does this by:
The Trades Unions
The Trades Union Congress describes trades unions as:
‘Organized groups of workers who come together to support each other in the workplace, negotiating with employers to improve pay, terms and conditions and ensure fair and equal treatment.’ (Trades Union Congress, 2011)
Unions also provide members with individual advice and representation, and may offer opportunities for personal and professional development. Although they share a collective approach to representing members, professional bodies and trades unions have different roles and while the trades unions’ role has been well-established over a long period of time, the role of the professional body may be less well understood.
The professional body
All professions have established professional bodies, for example the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) for nurses; the Royal College of Midwifery for midwives; the Royal College of speech and language therapists; etc. The HPC describes the role of professional bodies as:
It is expected, for example, that when the HPC creates and reviews the Standards of Proficiency and the Standards of Conduct, Performance and Ethics, they work in collaboration with the professional body. This allows members of the professional body to take responsibility for their own professional future and development.
The College of paramedics
Given the roles of the three types of organizations described above, it becomes clear which is best positioned to address a number of issues which are given as examples below and are frequently raised by paramedics:
These examples represent just some of the current and important topics affecting paramedic practice, which are being taken forward vigorously by the College of Paramedics. In the past, paramedics may have complained that they are either powerless to influence improvements or too remote from certain issues for them to be relevant. The challenge for paramedics now is to act in an effective and compelling way to influence all of these issues.
Recent developments
The College of Paramedics is expanding rapidly with membership growth, a new head office established, staff appointed, and a national programme of CPD delivered in 2011. We are indebted to BoundTree Medical as the Corporate Partner which has sponsored almost all of the CPD events held throughout the country.
The College has responded to a number of important consultations and has developed a working relationship with a group of senior NHS ambulance service managers. On 7 September 2011, the All Party Parliamentary Group on Emergency Ambulance and Paramedic Services (APPGEAPS) held a reception in the Houses of Parliament which was attended by Lords, members of Parliament, ambulance service chief executives and chairs, and many other stakeholders as well as members of the College's Governing Council. Events such as these are hugely important in raising awareness about the capability and potential of paramedics as there is little doubt that this it is still not widely understood.
The Governing Council of the College has identified 24 issues that are important to paramedics and will be developed as position statements and in some cases, active campaigns to seek change or improvement. This will be done while we continue to increase the range of benefits through discounts and the national CPD programme, but it is those issues that are at the heart of the profession's practice that will receive priority during 2012. We will continue to promote the capability of paramedics and the need for specialist paramedics in both the primary and acute fields of patient care.
We will ensure the profession and its development is held firmly by paramedics and that medical and other groups that have a strong interest in prehospital care understand the independent nature and responsibilities of the professional body representing paramedics.