Kent Community Paramedic Practitioner Scheme

In the past year, ambulance services in Kent have rolled out a new paramedic practitioner scheme, which focuses less on emergency treatment, and more on the community itself. After being launched in Whitstable during spring 2015, the scheme is now being rolled out across other areas of Kent. In this blog, we’ll look at the new plans, and what they involve.

How does the Paramedic Practitioner scheme work?

The idea of the scheme is this: the ambulance services will assign experienced paramedical practitioners to work at the very centre of communities. These paramedics will utilise their decision making skills, and knowledge of patients, to ascertain the help that particular individuals need. That is to say, making a decision on whether that person needs to be taken into hospital, or will be better left where they are, and receiving home based help.

What does the scheme aim to do?

The scheme is aimed at helping older people stay out of hospital, helping young people to stay on track, and looking after patients’ mental and physical health in general. Paramedics will now work in conjunction with GPs and other providers, to create an extensive and closely linked service. Part of the reason that the scheme was introduced was to reduce overcrowding and time wasting in hospitals. Ambulance services want to be able to treat people who can be treated at home – at home. This will lessen the burden on current hospital staff.

Has the scheme had any effect?

The answer is yes, it has. Already numbers of 999 based patients that end up in hospital have started to be reduced, by as much as a third in areas such as Whitstable. Across the South East, ambulance services are reporting that as little as 50% of 999 callers are be treated in hospital, and in some places this is rising to 80%. This is fantastic news, and shows that the community based paramedics are making a genuine difference to patients’ lives.