Britain's changing demographic

The changing demographic of almost every MEDC in Europe and, indeed the world, will herald significant change in their social, political and financial infrastructure. This has been the case in certain counties such as Japan and Germany (who have seen their population pyramid tip to top-heavy since the early 90's) but has yet to be experienced in full force by the UK.

The increase of patients over-65 does not only mean that the emergency services will have to adapt to a shift in the immediacy, location and emergency department referral of call outs but also, and perhaps more importantly, the symptoms and treatments to administer on arrival. Inundations of particular, predictable illnesses and traumas may, to some extent, be predictable but what wont be easy to anticipate will be the plethora of multi-symptomatic geriatric patients who's treatment shall have to be tailored appropriately.

Such cases will, necessarily, heighten the scope and depth of medical knowledge that paramedics swill have to be acquainted with and be proficient at treating on-scene. This general increase of medical ‘savvy’ required by paramedics will marry well with their ongoing and successful professionalisation, as will the transition to the degree-level of education also currently on the increase for prospective paramedics. However, this is not to say that the profession will by any means, find the transition in the ensuing decades simple or easy to make. The introduction of increased medical knowledge will be demanding and very noticeable. On top of this, the sheer number of emergency call-outs will also see a steady rise as the number of paramedic and resources available begin to dwindle as the more general repercussions of an ageing population strikes the socioeconomic infrastructure of the UK as a whole.