- Frontline health workers across Scotland locked out of paramedic positions unless they leave paid work to go to university
- Over 700 Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) staff support new campaign to create a training route from technician to paramedic positions
- Hard-working ambulance workers with families, mortgages and caring responsibilities being forced to choose between their NHS careers and university study
- Campaign warns experienced NHS staff are being left behind despite already having years of frontline clinical experience
- New pathway could help tackle paramedic recruitment challenges in remote and rural communities
- Campaign to stage major actions at ambulance stations all over Scotland in order to secure negotiations with Health Secretary Angela Constance
- Backed by all major unions (GMB, Unite and UNISON) who represent thousands of ambulance workers
More than 700 Scottish Ambulance Service staff are backing a campaign to give experienced Ambulance Technicians a route into paramedic roles without having to leave their jobs to study full-time.
Technicians are skilled frontline NHS workers who already work alongside paramedics, responding to emergencies and caring for patients across Scotland. But since 2021, new paramedics have been required to complete a university degree, leaving experienced technicians with few options to progress.
For workers with children, mortgages, caring responsibilities and other financial commitments, giving up a paid NHS job to become a full-time student simply isn’t realistic. As a result, experienced staff are being left behind despite years of frontline clinical experience.
The campaign is calling for a Technician-to-Paramedic pathway that recognises technicians’ existing education, skills and clinical experience, while maintaining the same academic, clinical and professional standards required of all paramedics.
This is not about lowering standards. It is about making sure experienced NHS staff do not have to start again from scratch when they have already demonstrated the knowledge and skills required.
A new pathway could also help strengthen paramedic recruitment in remote and rural communities by allowing experienced technicians who already live and work there to progress their careers while continuing to serve their local communities.
Adam Clearly, Ambulance Technician, Paisley: “After the first lockdown, I found myself in admiration for the NHS and wanted to contribute as much as I could. I took great pride in my work as a dispatcher. I wanted to help patients on the front line and challenge myself”
“Because technicians across the country are truly the backbone of SAS, and there is no replacement for the experience, knowledge and compassion that technicians gain. Having time as a technician prior to completion your paramedic degree would ensure staff are well prepared for the realities of the ambulance service, and that candidates for the paramedic ticket have proved in practice they are capable of the step up.”
“I am currently unable to progress my career, and at times this has made me consider leaving the service. I feel somewhat trapped. Progression is limited, and will always favour those that are paramedics, despite having much less experience and regardless of their skills or knowledge.
“This campaign would give me a pathway to success and give technicians across the country a new sense of purpose, a chance to prove their worth, which is slowly fading from SAS.”
Frances Malley, Technician, Ellon: “I joined SAS in 2022 as a technician after working in a community based job. I left that role because Covid required me to work from home which I found very challenging. My 2 children had left for university so I had the opportunity to go for a job I had always wanted to do.”
“Historically, Technician wasn’t simply a job you entered and stayed in indefinitely, it was described by SAS as the first stage towards becoming a registered paramedic. During the interview process I was told that I would be expected to progress from Technician to paramedic but the option has been taken away.
“The tech to paramedic pathway would mean that we would get that opportunity without having to spend 3 years at university. If I went to university it would have financial implications, plus the difficulties of juggling work and placements.
“A new pathway would give rural technicians like myself, an equal opportunity to progress and service our communities.”
PETITION: https://www.change.org/p/create-a-fair-route-for-ambulance-technicians-to-become-paramedics