What's in a name?

‘What's in a name? That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet,’ as Shakespeare wrote in Romeo and Juliet. In the context in which Shakespeare makes this statement the name is artificial and a meaningless convention, in effect what you are called is insignificant.

However, the Secretary of State for Health, on two occasions when addressing the national press recently referred to paramedics as ‘ambulance drivers’ (BBC, 2016; ITV News, 2016). The role of the ambulance clinician has undergone tremendous growth since the 1990s; the term ‘paramedic’ has now become synonymous with the provision of front-line pre-hospital health care. The Secretary of State for Health has overall financial control and oversight of all NHS delivery and performance, so it is rather worrying that he refers to a group of essential care providers who offer specialist care and treatment to patients who are either acutely ill or injured, can administer a variety of drugs, and carry out selected surgical techniques as ambulance drivers.