Impact of ambulance delays on the student paramedic

Ambulance delays are by now familiar to anyone working across paramedic practice. While this problem is not a new one, it is one that is steadily worsening (NHS England, 2022). Various impacts of this issue have been identified ranging from the obvious concerns around patient safety incidents and response times (Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch, 2022) to the more nuanced effects on recruitment and retention within ambulance services (Letcher, 2022).

One group that is affected very deeply by this problem and yet receives little attention in relation to it is the paramedic student population. As students, we are in placement within an ambulance service to experience as much paramedic practice as possible, closing the gap between our theoretical education and hands-on learning (Clarke, 2018). This bridging of the practice-theory gap can seem tough at the best of times, let alone when education is based in a world of practice that seems alien in contrast to current realities in some areas of the UK.