The Royal College of Paramedics is delighted to announce that we have entered into a landmark agreement with Thailand’s Chulabhorn Royal Academy to work together to advance the paramedic profession by learning from and providing support to one another in the pursuit of educational excellence, standardisation and global knowledge exchange.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed by Tracy Nicholls OBE, Chief Executive of the Royal College of Paramedics and HRH Princess Chulabhorn, Founder of Chulabhorn Royal Academy. 

Under the terms of the MoU, collaboration between the two organisations will focus on exchanging expertise and information relating to paramedic practice at a global level. The agreement will also ensure a collective approach to promoting research, education and continuing professional development within the paramedic profession, which in turn will further enhance the patient care provided by paramedics.

Chief Executive of the Royal College of Paramedics, Tracy Nicholls OBE said: “We are deeply grateful to the Chulabhorn Royal Academy for their outstanding commitment to advancing global education and for the collaborative spirit with which they approach the development of our profession. This memorandum marks the beginning of a partnership grounded in shared values, mutual respect, and a desire to strengthen paramedic practice for the benefit of our members and, ultimately, the people we all serve. We greatly look forward to fostering this relationship and realising the many opportunities it presents for learning, growth, and improved patient care across both our nations.”

Acting Deputy Secretary General for Chulabhorn Royal Academy, Prof. Emeritus Dr. Rajata Rajatanavin said: "This international academic collaboration reaffirms Chulabhorn Royal Academy’s commitment to the vision of our Royal Founder: to utilize medical science and technology for the benefit of all humanity. By advancing paramedic professional standards alongside the United Kingdom, we are directly contributing to life-saving measures and enhancing the quality of life for the global community."

We are aware that recent media coverage and commentary relating to advanced practice roles, including reporting of survey findings and statements from representative organisations, may have caused concern for some members.

The Royal College of Paramedics remains steadfast in its commitment to supporting advanced paramedic practice and ensuring that the contribution of paramedics is accurately understood, fairly represented, and informed by evidence, clear professional standards, and the needs of patients. We are actively engaging with national partners, including the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) and the NHS Centre for Advancing Practice, to strengthen recognition of advanced paramedic practice within the UK healthcare system and to support ongoing discussions regarding professional recognition and potential annotation of advanced practice.

We are also working closely with colleagues across the allied health professions and nursing professions to ensure that advanced practice is understood consistently across the multidisciplinary workforce and that the contribution of advanced paramedics is considered within established professional and regulatory frameworks.

Recent public discourse on this subject has, at times, been disappointing in tone and has not always reflected the professionalism and capability that advanced paramedics bring to patient care. While legitimate discussion and scrutiny of advanced practice roles are both expected and important, rhetoric that diminishes individual professions or fails to recognise profession-specific education, competence, governance, and accountability is neither constructive nor helpful to patients, clinicians, or the wider health and care system.

The Royal College of Paramedics is clear that:

• Paramedics are an autonomous and regulated profession, accountable for working within their scope of practice and professional standards.
• Advanced paramedic practice is built upon the foundations of paramedic registration, substantial clinical experience, postgraduate education, and robust governance arrangements.
• Advanced paramedic practice is not defined by a job title alone but by demonstrated capability and leadership across the four pillars of clinical practice, leadership and management, education, and research.
• The educational and professional expectations for advanced paramedic practice are clearly articulated within the Royal College of Paramedics' post-registration career framework and post-registration career guidance, which have been developed to support safe, effective, transparent, and accountable practice.
• Regulatory, workforce, and professional discussions should recognise the distinct expertise, education, and contribution of the paramedic profession.

We are equally clear that advanced paramedics are not substitutes for doctors, nor should advanced practice roles be viewed as replacements for medical posts or medical rotas. Patients benefit most when healthcare professionals work together, each contributing their unique expertise within clearly defined scopes of practice and governance arrangements.

Advanced paramedics bring highly developed capabilities that complement, rather than replicate, the expertise of medical colleagues. Their role is to enhance patient care, improve access, provide clinical leadership, and contribute to service delivery within the limits of their education, competence, and professional accountability. This position is entirely consistent with the Royal College of Paramedics' post-registration career framework and with broader advanced practice principles adopted across the NHS.

Our focus remains where it should be: on patient safety, quality of care, professional standards, and supporting our members to practise confidently and effectively. We will continue to engage constructively with regulators, national bodies, employers, and professional organisations to ensure that advanced paramedic practice is appropriately recognised and that the voice of the profession is heard in all relevant discussions.

We will keep members informed as this work progresses.

People experiencing a mental health crisis are too often being cared for in emergency departments (EDs) that are not designed, equipped or resourced to meet their needs, according to a new national investigation.

The report, by the Health Services Safety Investigations Body (HSSIB), found that EDs have increasingly become the default location for people in mental health crisis due to gaps elsewhere in the urgent and emergency mental health care system. As a result, people can experience prolonged waits, overcrowded environments, a lack of privacy and unmet basic needs, which increase the distress and risk for patients, families and healthcare staff.

What the investigation found

The investigation found that many EDs are managing risks and needs beyond their intended role. Staff described increasing pressure, burnout, compassion fatigue and moral distress associated with caring for people who require specialist mental health support in environments unsuited to their needs.

In some cases, delayed admission to mental health inpatient services, prolonged stays in EDs and lack of support following discharge were not consistently recognised as patient safety issues or monitored to drive improvement.

The HSSIB investigation found that EDs are not designed to care for or accommodate children in mental health crisis. In addition, the investigation found safety risks associated with mental health crisis care in EDs may not be experienced equally. Protected characteristics, communication and sensory needs, neurodevelopmental needs, trauma, previous experiences and wider circumstances could affect how people experienced the ED environment. This may have impacted how their distress and needs were understood, and how able they were to participate in care and decision making. Families who took part in the investigation described distressing noise levels in EDs and said safety plans setting out how staff should communicate with their family member were ignored.

ED staff told HSSIB there were gaps in their training about how to respond to people who had both physical and mental health needs. Staff also raised concerns regarding limited access to specialist mental health nursing expertise within EDs. 

Patients and families reported positive experiences when staff treated them with dignity and respect. They also valued lived experience led services and charities who supported them for the duration of their care. 

Call for system-wide action

The investigation concludes that improving care for people experiencing a mental health crisis requires action to support safe, therapeutic care in EDs alongside wider changes across the urgent and emergency care pathway. HSSIB has made two safety recommendations.

Safety recommendation R/2026/097

HSSIB recommends that the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC)/NHS England works with relevant national stakeholders to set out and support national minimum operational service standards and built design expectations for emergency departments. This will help reduce unwarranted variation and meet the therapeutic needs of individuals who attend emergency departments in a mental health crisis.

Safety recommendation R/2026/098

HSSIB recommends that DHSC/NHS England works with relevant national stakeholders to ensure people in mental health crisis in EDs are kept safe by addressing the findings of this report. This programme of work should provide further support and/or guidance to address:

• clear expectations for roles, responsibilities and accountability for clinically appropriate, co-ordinated Mental Health Act assessment pathways
• effective shared care, governance and escalation arrangements and processes to identify, escalate and review delays related to assessment, bed availability and onward care
• arrangements to assess, plan for and assure the capacity, capability and resilience of the workforce, including access to relevant specialist and statutory professionals
• agreed measures and reporting arrangements to monitor workforce and pathway pressures, evaluate improvement actions, identify variation in access, waiting, experience, use of restrictive interventions, and address inequalities between population groups

This will support safe care by addressing issues in relation to clinical ownership, transfer of care, governance and escalation of patients in mental health crisis in EDs.

Nichola Crust, senior safety investigator at HSSIB, said: 
“People who come to an emergency department in a mental health crisis may be at their most vulnerable. They need timely, compassionate and joined-up care that recognises their distress, protects their dignity and helps keep them safe.

“Our investigation found that emergency departments are often caring for people in crisis in spaces that were not designed for prolonged mental health care. Long waits, limited privacy, unsuitable environments, gaps in information sharing and inconsistent approaches to care can increase distress and make it harder to understand and respond to a person’s changing risks and needs.

“Families and carers often hold vital information about those risks and about what may help the person feel safer, but that insight was not always heard or used. This is not an issue that emergency departments can solve alone. People in crisis need a whole-system response, with clearer expectations for mental health care in emergency departments and stronger accountability across the pathway.”

“That is why we have asked DHSC and NHS England to work with national stakeholders to set clearer expectations for how people in mental health crisis are cared for in emergency departments. Our recommendations focus on national standards for suitable therapeutic environments, clearer accountability across the whole pathway, and stronger arrangements for shared care, escalation, workforce planning and monitoring of safety risks.”


Dorit Braun, Chief Executive of Making Families Count, said: 
“This is another important HSSIB investigation report which makes desperately sad but familiar reading. So many traumatically bereaved families involved with Making Families Count talk about their horrific and terrifying experiences of EDs: being ignored, or not contacted at all, having important information about their relative’s needs dismissed, and feeling desperately afraid because the mental health care their relative needs so urgently is not available. We think developing clear standards of care would help everyone – clinicians, patients, families and the public and we welcome these recommendations.”


Andy Bell, Chief Executive of the Centre for Mental Health, said:
"People needing urgent care for their mental health should expect high quality care when they need it most, including in emergency departments. Too often, that's not the case. This report shows that too many people in a mental health emergency are let down by a system that isn't designed to meet their needs. We urge the Government and the NHS in England to act on the report's recommendations. It's not enough to establish separate 'mental health emergency departments'. This requires systemwide action to make all emergency departments more appropriate environments for someone in a mental health crisis, to scale up community crisis responses according to the evidence of what works, and to address gaps in local inpatient care to address delays in admissions."

For our inaugural Mental Health Conference taking place on the 20th October in Cheltenham, we are super excited to announce that Simon Weston CBE – war hero, prominent charity leader and global inspiration - will be our keynote speaker.

As a young man, aged 20, Simon was serving with the Welsh Guards during the Falklands War in 1982 when his life changed forever.

On June 8, his ship, RFA Sir Galahad was attacked by Argentine Skyhawk bombers, with three missiles tearing into the landing craft and turning it into a burning inferno in a matter of seconds. The bomb blasts killed 48 men aboard the ship and left Simon seriously injured with 46 per cent burns to his body. So severe were his injuries that his mother didn’t recognise him at the transit hospital at RAF Lyneham. Over the next four years he underwent more than 90 operations, mainly skin grafts and his weight plummeted from 16 stone to just eight.
Yet despite the horrific injuries he suffered and the physical and mental anguish he’s had to overcome, Simon has shown himself to be a true warrior; someone who has triumphed over adversity and proved to be an inspiration to millions through his bravery and courage, his charity work, TV ventures, books and motivational speaking.    
As he said himself: “I am the luckiest guy alive, and I am hugely fortunate that I am here. My heart stopped twice, they gave me the last rites and at one point it looked as though I had been blinded, but I regained my sight. I am no longer defined simply by the terrible injuries that I received but instead by what I have achieved since.”

For more information about Simon please go to https://simonweston.com/about-simon

And if you would like to hear Simon speak and hear his story firsthand then please book your ticket here 

We are extremely saddened to learn of the death of Professor Robert Myles Gibson OBE, Chancellor of the Faculty of Pre-Hospital Care of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh.

Tracy Nicholls OBE FCPara said,
“The Royal College of Paramedics was deeply saddened to hear of the recent death of Professor Robert Myles Gibson OBE.  His profound contribution to pre-hospital care has left a lasting legacy. He played a pivotal role in establishing pre-hospital emergency medicine as a medical speciality, laying the foundations for the Faculty of Pre-Hospital Care in 1996. He was also a wonderful ally for our profession, supporting many paramedics, as well as the Royal College of Paramedics in its infancy as the British Paramedic Association.  We send our condolences to his family, friends and many colleagues and thank him for his incredible contribution to our profession.”

Dave Whitmore QAM, FIMC RCSEd said,
“It is with great sadness that we learned of the death of Professor Robert Myles Gibson OBE, Patron of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh’s Faculty of Pre-Hospital Care (The Faculty).
He, with others, laid the foundations of the Faculty of Pre-Hospital Care and was its first Chair from 1996 to 2002. From the start Prof Gibson encouraged paramedics to become involved in the Faculty and supported the view that the Faculty should be, as it most certainly now is, a multi-disciplinary Faculty of a Royal Medical College. That said he fully understood and greatly supported the separate development of the early British Paramedic Association and its transition to the Royal College of Paramedics.
He was instrumental in the international ‘Save a Limb, Save a Life’ initiative. His achievements and dedication to improving patient care were recognised with the OBE in 1992 and numerous other honours throughout his distinguished career.
His contribution to surgery, pre-hospital care and the wider medical profession will not be forgotten.
A true gentleman who through quiet guidance and wisdom kept a friendly but deeply professional eye on the development of the paramedic profession in the UK."

We are pleased to notify you that the Sepsis Modern Service Framework (Sepsis MSF) has been published today on the NHS England website. 

Delivering system-wide change

Sepsis remains a critical challenge, with over 118,000 emergency admissions recorded in 2024/25 and around 40% of critical care patients dying in hospital. Health inequalities significantly affect outcomes, with higher risk among those with long-term conditions, frailty, learning disabilities, or lower socioeconomic status.

The new NHS Sepsis Modern Service Framework (MSF) sets a clear, ambitious target. It aims to reduce deaths, life-threatening complications, and long-term harm from sepsis and severe infection by at least 25% by 2035, and it provides a structured, evidence-based roadmap to achieve this through consistent, equitable, high-quality care delivery at every stage of the pathway.

It brings together prevention, acute care, community follow-up, data and improvement into a single coherent framework, setting out practical, pathway-level improvement across six themes: person-centred care, staff and public awareness, prevention, identification, escalation, and response. 

While this is a significant step forward, there is substantial work ahead to deliver the ambitions we set out. The framework should be used to inform local plans, priorities, data, research and innovation and improvement programmes. We will value your oversight, insight and challenge as implementation progresses.

Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust (CLCH) has created a national first: a two week Summer School Programme introducing 16–18 year old students from under represented and socially disadvantaged backgrounds to careers across the Allied Health Professions, including paramedics. Through clinical shadowing, university visits, professional body engagement and mentoring, students gain direct insight into seven AHP roles and the wider healthcare system. Evaluation of the inaugural 2024 cohort showed outstanding results, with 100% of students recommending the programme, strong gains in career awareness, increased confidence and clearer career goals. A second cohort in 2025 expanded the offer with mental health placements and a growing alumni mentoring network. Across two years, 44 graduates have taken part, with 77% reporting active progression towards an AHP career. CLCH is now partnering with the King’s Trust to scale the programme and strengthen employability pathways, alongside a longitudinal study with London South Bank University to track long term impact. A full PDF version provides detailed evaluation findings, methodology and future plans.
 
For any questions, reach out to Raj Mann, Diversity, Equity and Belonging Manager – [email protected]

To read more, click here

We are delighted to share with you, ahead of the official announcement at our AGM, the results of our 2026 Trustee and Paramedic Council Elections.

13 Candidates were on the ballot for 4 trustee roles. The following candidates were elected:
- Giles Adams
- Ed Harry
- Benjamin Haselwood
- Jaqualine Lindridge

All four are incumbents and will continue into their second and last term of two years.

The trustee candidates were voted on by Congress members, using the Single Transferable Vote system, with second choice votes coming into play. Congress is the Board of Trustees and the Paramedic Council together. 

12 candidates stood for election across the 5 available Paramedic Council seats. The following candidates were elected:
- James Lindley – North West
- Simon Thompson – North East
- Kevin Cowan – Eastern
- Simon Tutt – South West
- David Davis – South East

Kevin Cowan is the incumbent for Eastern and will continue into his second and last term of two years. 

The Paramedic Council candidates were voted on by the full members within their regions, using the Single Transferable Vote system, with second choice votes coming into play. The North West election was uncontested.

All the candidates in the 2026 elections were very strong candidates, and the College is privileged and thankful for the time and commitment involved in putting themselves forward and their interest in supporting the work of the Royal College of Paramedics (RCoP). The College can only function effectively as the paramedic professional body because of the willingness of our members to get involved.  

All the successful candidates will commence their tenures at our Annual General Meeting which is taking place at our National Conference on 21st May in Newport. 

On 27th March 2026, coinciding with the Advanced Paramedic Practice Symposium event, the HCPC in collaboration with the general osteopathic council (GOsC) has published their “Shared Update on the Regulation of Advanced Levels of Practice (2026)”. 

This update clarifies the existing position on regulation of advanced levels of practice and reinforces how HCPC and GOsC registrants working at these levels can continue to meet their existing standards across a range of job titles, sectors and settings. 

Steph Tempest, Clinical Fellow at the HCPC leading this piece of work, has pre-recorded a presentation explaining how this links to Advanced Paramedic Practice. Click here to watch.

The key messages are: 
• All HCPC and GOsC registrants working at advanced levels are already fully regulated and must meet all regulatory standards which are relevant to their scope of practice. 
• Service user safety is a shared responsibility. Registrants, regulators, employers, professional bodies, unions and others play important and different roles in ensuring safety. 
• The HCPC and GOsC do not set or limit the scope of practice of registrants but it is essential for registrants to use their professional judgement to work within their scope to ensure they practise safely, lawfully and effectively. 

Ambulance Technician Emma Newbrooks and Duty Commander and Paramedic Peter Schmidt, both from EMAS’ Leicestershire A&E division, have starred in two new short films, aimed at showing secondary school pupils what a career in the ambulance service entails. 

Working in partnership with the Royal College of Paramedics and student careers destination platform Unifrog, used by 4,000 schools nationally, Emma and Peter bravely stepped in front of the camera to share their stories, insights and experiences, creating two visual testimonies about their different career journeys. 

Emma, a former Army Dog Handler, spoke of her desire to help people after leaving the military, using transferrable communication skills and bringing personal resilience to her role in the ambulance service. 

Peter provided guidance about the skills needed to succeed in the service, including empathy and understanding other people’s backgrounds and situations, improving communication with patients, and providing a high level of care in patients’ times of need.

Other colleagues from the Leicestershire A&E Division and Education teams also feature in the videos, creating a rich picture of a day in the life of the various roles available across NHS ambulance trusts. 

Andy Kirk, Assistant Director of Education and Organisational Development, who coordinated the project from the EMAS side, said “I’m really proud and grateful to all the colleagues who came forward to help make this project a reality. Emma and Peter represented themselves and EMAS to an extremely high standard.

“Over 2 million young people have access to Unifrog, and I have no doubt that EMAS’ input to these videos will create many aspiring ambulance staff in the near future.”

Kirsty Lowery-Richardson, Head of Education at the Royal College of Paramedics, said “We are hugely grateful to colleagues at EMAS and especially Emma and Peter for their brilliant contribution in bringing this work to life. We grasped the opportunity to work with Unifrog to promote the paramedic profession but could not do so without a practice partner. We are confident that these resources will help young people to better understand the contemporary paramedic role.”

Prince William, Patron of the Royal College of Paramedics featured in a special edition of BBC Radio 1's 'Life Hacks’ this week, where he discussed men’s mental health and suicide prevention.

Hosted by Greg James, the Prince of Wales was joined on the discussion panel by musician and mental health campaigner Professor Green, (Stephen Manderson) rapper Guvna B, Director of Clinical Services Allan Brownrigg from James’ Place Charity - one of The Royal Foundation’s National Suicide Prevention Network’s partners - and a young man called Nathan, who has been supported by the charity in the past.

During the conversation, the Prince urged for more openness from male role models and spoke about the importance of pausing to understand emotional reactions. “We need more male role models out there, kind of talking about it and normalising it so that it becomes something that is second nature to all of us,” he said.

“Part of feeling comfortable talking about mental health is understanding it,” he continued. “And if you’ve got guys who have really gone about trying to really learn about what feelings are, why we feel like we do, what can we do about it? That’s part of the conversation, too.”

He added: “Not one person in this world has all the tools for every eventuality or mental state that is going to come across.

“I like to go around looking for new tools to put in my toolbox when I might need it and if we look at it like that, it does normalise the idea that the brain just needs sometimes a little bit of help. But we can’t expect to have all the answers ourselves.

“It’s OK to ask for support, ask a mate, reach out. That becomes just the normalisation process of what’s going on inside your head.”

The Prince also openly discussed his own mental health journey, making particular reference to when he was an air ambulance pilot with East Anglia’s Air Ambulance Service. 

He recalled: “We had busy jobs and you had people in, sadly, very difficult situations... and over time, I noticed my mental health really deteriorating and I hadn't really clocked onto it, because in that community, you try and make light of some of the moments just to keep, frankly, sane and keep going. So, it wasn't until I stepped away from it, on a longer break, that I looked at myself and went 'Oh my God, I'm carrying everyone's emotional baggage… I was taking snippets from each job I'd been on, each family member that had been distraught or whatever, and I was carrying that in myself and it was really weighing me down.”
Through his own personal experience, the Prince went on to explain how the nature of emergency service jobs can take its toll on people due to how emotionally and physically demanding the work can be.

He said: “That's why I've done a lot of work with the blue light community because I think that happens to a lot of them. It's not until you step away from it, either you retire or you have a break, which many of them don't get long enough breaks, that you are able to process what kind of attritional, mental, emotional experiences you're having each time… and you're carrying a bit of emotional baggage from each scene... and it just weighs you down. So, for me, coming away from the situation is really important…to be able to take stock of what you've just been through and what our brains are processing.”

As part of his ongoing work and commitment to improving mental health, the Prince’s Royal Foundation is contributing £1million to support the creation of a National Suicide Prevention Network, part of a broader effort to strengthen coordinated responses across the UK.

If you would like support or to talk to someone, then please go to:
The Ambulance Staff Charity (TASC) Crisis Line – Tel. 0300 373 0898 https://www.theasc.org.uk/crisis/ 

The Royal College of Paramedics was delighted to welcome Dr Phatthranit Phattharapornjaroen and Dr Weerada Thayawiwat from Thailand’s Chulabhorn Royal Academy for a brief visit last month.

Both emergency medical doctors arrived in the UK following their participation in some international disaster management and emergency medical training in Croatia and Slovenia.

Whilst in the UK, RCoP’s Education Team was able to show them around the University of Huddersfield where our guests had the opportunity to watch several MSc learners undertake some simulation practice. They were also able to visit Yorkshire Ambulance Service (YAS) where they met with colleagues to discuss EPRR and business continuity approaches.

Closer to home, Dr Phattharapornjaroen and Dr Thayawiwat were able to observe our Paramedic and Student Council meetings in progress, as well as a RCoP board meeting.

We would like to extend our sincere thanks to YAS and the University of Huddersfield, especially Mark Gregson, Dave Green and Emma Cameron for assisting with arrangements.

Paramedicine in Thailand is a newly recognised healthcare profession, with less than 1500 paramedics currently serving a population of 70 million. It is hoped that within the next decade the paramedic workforce will grow to around 15,000. In order to achieve this ambitious goal, the Chulabhorn Royal Academy has sought the Royal College of Paramedics’ expertise and experience on growing Thailand’s paramedic profession which we have been pleased to assist with.

Head of Education at the Royal College of Paramedics, Kirsty Lowery-Richardson said: “I was delighted to have the opportunity to introduce our visitors to colleagues from YAS and the University of Huddersfield and enable them to see firsthand the UK approaches to education and paramedic practice that we had been sharing with them. We are honoured to have the opportunity to work with the Chulabhorn Royal Academy and share our own lessons of the last 25 years whilst growing and developing the profession.”