17.08.15
RCGP ‘open’ to having paramedics as part of GP teams
Plans to provide specialist training for paramedics to help alleviate the pressure on over over-stretched GPs and urgent care services have been welcomed by the RCGP.
Over the weekend, reports suggested that paramedics would undergo a four-month training course in order to provide out of hours GP services and prescribe medicines. The Daily Mail also suggested they would be placed in GP surgeries, holding routine clinics.
While NHS England confirms it is running a consultation on whether some advanced level paramedics should be given rights to prescribe medicines to patients, it makes no proposals in relation to paramedics carrying out routine appointments.
Suzanne Rastrick, chief allied health professions officer at NHS England, said: “The NHS England consultation on proposals to introduce independent prescribing by paramedics across the United Kingdom launched in February, considers whether advanced level paramedics should be given rights to prescribe medicines to patients.
“The potential benefit, subject to consultation, is that patients would be able to access the medicines they need in a timely manner, which means their treatment will be more effective.
“The evidence is due to be reviewed by the Commission on Human Medicines in October, we note that the BMA (British Medical Association) has submitted a formal response to the consultation which said that they believe the case put forward in the consultation is valid.”
Some health campaigners have voiced concerns about the potential quality of care provided by the trained-up paramedics.
But Dr Maureen Baker, chair of the RCGP, said her organisation would be interested in having community paramedics as part of practice teams who could respond to urgent requests for home visits, both in and out of hours.
“But this must not replace the GP appointment – and paramedics must never be used as a substitute for GPs,” she said. “GPs are highly trained medical doctors, and our skills at being able to diagnose and treat the ‘whole person’ through initial consultation and the unique relationship we build up with our patients over time cannot be subsumed by other health professionals.”
Dr Baker added that paramedics provide a vital and invaluable service to the NHS but that service is already under severe strain. “We would want assurances that workload pressures are not simply being transferred from one area to another, as this will not benefit patients or GPs.”