Engaged without proposing.

Jackieboy

Person_one wrote: »

It is very very competitive, only a small number of paramedics qualify each year, but this is because there is limited funding available for training places. Ambulance trusts go abroad to recruit already qualified paramedics that they don't have to pay to train to fill the gaps.

Will that change in 2017 when healthcare courses start being funded by loans?

Person_one

Jackieboy wrote: »

Will that change in 2017 when healthcare courses start being funded by loans?

Certainly not immediately. It takes 3 years to train a paramedic for a start, and there still won't be unlimited training places. Each student needs a qualified mentor for one thing and there aren't unlimited numbers of those.

My experience is with nursing, where the same happens and I'm 100% certain that the change won't help the staffing crisis one iota.

tea_lover

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

Some British friends of mine are training to be paramedics, so there is training available.

Yep. A friend of mine is a former paramedic who now teaches new trainees. It's a very popular course.

dktreesea

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

Some British friends of mine are training to be paramedics, so there is training available.

Jackieboy wrote: »

The opportunities are there for any qualified applicant who chooses to apply.

https://www.healthcareers.nhs.uk/explore-roles/allied-health-professionals/paramedic/entry-requirements-and-training-paramedic

Yes, it's possible to apply and some people will indeed get training places. But for every one who gets one, many more miss out.

Jackieboy

dktreesea wrote: »

Yes, it's possible to apply and some people will indeed get training places. But for every one who gets one, many more miss out.

I think it vital that standards are kept high for all healthcare courses.

Person_one

Jackieboy wrote: »

I think it vital that standards are kept high for all healthcare courses.

The limited number of paramedic training places is nothing to do with standards, fantastic candidates are turned down every year. Its funding.

dirty_magic

Out,_Vile_Jelly wrote: »

I would guess we struggle to recruit British paramedics because the salary is so insultingly low. Might suit a young Aussie or Pole wanting to live cheaply and cheerfully in a houseshare for a few years, but very difficult to get a mortgage on a family home on that kind of income in London.

I think this is it, it's not a bad wage elsewhere in the UK but in London it's not enough, even with the London weighting. People train in London and then move to other services. Most of the services recruiting from abroad are in the south where house prices are higher.

Anyway, I'm glad the OP sorted it out!

dktreesea

Jackieboy wrote: »

I think it vital that standards are kept high for all healthcare courses.

Leaving out those who don't get in because they don't make the grade, it still leaves a whole lot of fantastic, appropriately qualified candidates who don't get a place. And part of the reason for that is a pretty much unlimited stream of appropriately qualified and experienced paramedics from the rest of the world willing to come here.


Why should we be providing jobs for the rest of the world when we have our own people who want to train in the discipline but can't get a place?


It's not just would be paramedics or NHS workers who are missing out. mechanics, engineers, scientists, teachers, you name it, we import them rather than train enough of our own to meet demand. That may well make economic sense in the short term but it's a disaster going forward.

-taff

dktreesea wrote: »

Why should we be providing jobs for the rest of the world when we have our own people who want to train in the discipline but can't get a place?.

Not quite the whole story though. i know 2 paramedics who hav left and gone to different jobs because of the conditions they were being asked to work under. One had been a paramedic for 30 years...I expect they saw a lot of changes that weren't good.

Person_one

dktreesea wrote: »

Leaving out those who don't get in because they don't make the grade, it still leaves a whole lot of fantastic, appropriately qualified candidates who don't get a place. And part of the reason for that is a pretty much unlimited stream of appropriately qualified and experienced paramedics from the rest of the world willing to come here.

No, that's really not the reason. Even if there wasn't a single foreign paramedic willing to work here, this government wouldn't increase the funding for training places unless they felt they had to in order to remain in power.