The integration of paramedics into primary care
Brian Wagstaff, Vinesh Mistry
Abstract
The community paramedic role was piloted at The Swan Practice in Buckingham in November 2016 in response to the national problems of recruiting both GPs and nurses alike. The paramedic was able to provide care for patients in their home environment, enabling the practice to tackle the challenges of unscheduled home visits. The role became an extension of the services offered by the practice, with excellent lines of communication between this autonomous practitioner and GPs to ensure safe patient management. The pilot project demonstrated that by using a paramedic to attend unscheduled home visits while closely liaising with a GP, the practice could effectively reduce the amount of time spent by GPs doing such visits both safely and effectively. This approach quickly gained patient acceptance and reduced the number of acute hospital admissions during the pilot. The practice appointment system was redesigned in April 2017 and the paramedic role was integrated into this. …