Decisions on recruitment and employment are a matter for individual National Health Service trusts which manage their recruitment at a local level, ensuring they have the right number of staff in place, with the right skill mix, to deliver safe and effective care.

As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, we are working closely with NHS England, employers, and educators to improve the transition into the workforce.

The Government is committed to publishing a 10 Year Workforce Plan to set out action to create a workforce ready to deliver the transformed service set out in the 10-Year Health Plan.

Decisions on recruitment and employment are a matter for individual National Health Service trusts which manage their recruitment at a local level, ensuring they have the right number of staff in place, with the right skill mix, to deliver safe and effective care.

As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, we are working closely with NHS England, employers, and educators to improve the transition into the workforce.

The Government is committed to publishing a 10 Year Workforce Plan to set out action to create a workforce ready to deliver the transformed service set out in the 10-Year Health Plan.

Decisions on recruitment and employment are a matter for individual National Health Service trusts which manage their recruitment at a local level, ensuring they have the right number of staff in place, with the right skill mix, to deliver safe and effective care.

Although the funding resource and targets do come from the Department into NHS England, it is the responsibility of NHS England and each integrated care board (ICB) to plan and determine how funding is allocated and spent locally to deliver services within an ICB area, including how this is distributed by ICBs to local ambulance trusts.

The Government is committed to publishing a 10 Year Workforce Plan to set out action to create a workforce ready to deliver the transformed service set out in the 10-Year Health Plan.

Legislation was amended in 2022 to widen the list of professionals eligible to issue a fit note to include pharmacists, physiotherapists, occupational therapists and registered nurses, alongside doctors.

The changes were made following extensive consultation with a wide range of healthcare professionals and their professional bodies. The aim of the changes was to ease the burden on GPs, streamline the interface between primary and secondary care, and enable fit notes to be issued by the clinician closest to the patient at the time they needed a fit note.

While paramedics are not able to issue fit notes, they and other Allied Health Professionals can contribute to decisions on sickness certification through completion of an AHP Work and Health Report. This may be considered by eligible professionals when issuing a fit note.

In May, the government launched pilot programmes across 4 Integrated Care Board areas in England to reform the fit note process. The pilots will test a fundamentally different approach, exploring replacing the traditional GP-led fit note process with newly designed plans that provide better support to people who fall ill at work. The long-term aim is for fundamental reform of the fit note process, and the pilots are not intended to revisit or reopen questions around paramedics issuing fit notes.

The Government is committed to making the National Health Service the best place to work to support and retain our hardworking and dedicated healthcare professionals. As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, we are working closely with NHS England, employers, and educators to improve transition into the workforce.

Our upcoming 10 Year Workforce Plan will ensure the NHS has the right people in the right places, with the right skills to care for patients, when they need it, and will make sure staff are better treated, have better training, more fulfilling roles, and hope for the future.

Decisions on the employment of paramedics are a matter for individual National Health Service trusts which manage their recruitment at a local level, ensuring they have the right number of staff in place, with the right skill mix, to deliver safe and effective care.

Decisions on the employment of newly qualified paramedics are a matter for individual National Health Service trusts which manage their recruitment at a local level, ensuring they have the right number of staff in place, with the right skill mix, to deliver safe and effective care.

As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, we are working closely with NHS England, employers, and educators to improve transition into the workforce.

There are different routes to becoming a paramedic, including traditional full-time university study and apprenticeship pathways.

Students undertaking traditional higher education routes to becoming a paramedic, such as on their first degree-level course can generally access student finance for their paramedic studies.

Plan 5 loan terms and conditions apply to students starting eligible courses from 1 August 2023, and there are no plans to introduce differential terms for paramedic students.

No estimate has been made of the number of newly qualified paramedics unable to secure employment in National Health Service ambulance trusts.

Decisions on the employment of newly qualified paramedics are a matter for individual NHS trusts which manage their recruitment at a local level, ensuring they have the right number of staff in place, with the right skill mix, to deliver safe and effective care.

As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, we are working closely with NHS England, employers, and educators to improve transition into the workforce.

No estimate has been made of the number of newly qualified paramedics unable to secure employment in National Health Service ambulance trusts.

Decisions on the employment of newly qualified paramedics are a matter for individual NHS trusts which manage their recruitment at a local level, ensuring they have the right number of staff in place, with the right skill mix, to deliver safe and effective care.

As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, we are working closely with NHS England, employers, and educators to improve transition into the workforce.

No estimate has been made of the number of newly qualified paramedics unable to secure employment in National Health Service ambulance trusts.

Decisions on the employment of newly qualified paramedics are a matter for individual NHS trusts which manage their recruitment at a local level, ensuring they have the right number of staff in place, with the right skill mix, to deliver safe and effective care.

As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, we are working closely with NHS England, employers, and educators to improve transition into the workforce.

Decisions on the employment of newly qualified paramedics are a matter for individual National Health Service trusts which manage their recruitment at a local level, ensuring they have the right number of staff in place, with the right skill mix, to deliver safe and effective care.

As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, we are working closely with NHS England, employers, and educators to improve transition into the workforce.

The combination of response vehicles and staff that make up an ambulance service’s emergency response, including double-crewed ambulances, rapid response vehicles, community first responders, and motorcycle and bicycle paramedic responders, is an operational matter determined by individual ambulance trusts according to their local population needs and geographic considerations.

NHS England has not made an assessment of the impact of motorcycle paramedic responders on response times, patient clinical outcomes, or training and deployment costs, although this information may be held locally by individual ambulance services.

It is noted that whilst motorcycle paramedics and other rapid responders may be able to reach patients quickly in congested and high traffic areas and provide assessment and treatment, in many cases patients will require subsequent on-scene assessment, treatment, and/or conveyance by an ambulance crew.

NHS England routinely publishes data on ambulance performance, including ambulance response times, alongside ambulance clinical outcome metrics at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/ambulance-quality-indicators/

The combination of response vehicles and staff that make up an ambulance service’s emergency response, including double-crewed ambulances, rapid response vehicles, community first responders, and motorcycle and bicycle paramedic responders, is an operational matter determined by individual ambulance trusts according to their local population needs and geographic considerations.

NHS England has not made an assessment of the impact of motorcycle paramedic responders on response times, patient clinical outcomes, or training and deployment costs, although this information may be held locally by individual ambulance services.

It is noted that whilst motorcycle paramedics and other rapid responders may be able to reach patients quickly in congested and high traffic areas and provide assessment and treatment, in many cases patients will require subsequent on-scene assessment, treatment, and/or conveyance by an ambulance crew.

NHS England routinely publishes data on ambulance performance, including ambulance response times, alongside ambulance clinical outcome metrics at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/ambulance-quality-indicators/

The combination of response vehicles and staff that make up an ambulance service’s emergency response, including double-crewed ambulances, rapid response vehicles, community first responders, and motorcycle and bicycle paramedic responders, is an operational matter determined by individual ambulance trusts according to their local population needs and geographic considerations.

NHS England has not made an assessment of the impact of motorcycle paramedic responders on response times, patient clinical outcomes, or training and deployment costs, although this information may be held locally by individual ambulance services.

It is noted that whilst motorcycle paramedics and other rapid responders may be able to reach patients quickly in congested and high traffic areas and provide assessment and treatment, in many cases patients will require subsequent on-scene assessment, treatment, and/or conveyance by an ambulance crew.

NHS England routinely publishes data on ambulance performance, including ambulance response times, alongside ambulance clinical outcome metrics at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/ambulance-quality-indicators/

The combination of response vehicles and staff that make up an ambulance service’s emergency response, including double-crewed ambulances, rapid response vehicles, community first responders, and motorcycle and bicycle paramedic responders, is an operational matter determined by individual ambulance trusts according to their local population needs and geographic considerations.

NHS England has not made an assessment of the impact of motorcycle paramedic responders on response times, patient clinical outcomes, or training and deployment costs, although this information may be held locally by individual ambulance services.

It is noted that whilst motorcycle paramedics and other rapid responders may be able to reach patients quickly in congested and high traffic areas and provide assessment and treatment, in many cases patients will require subsequent on-scene assessment, treatment, and/or conveyance by an ambulance crew.

NHS England routinely publishes data on ambulance performance, including ambulance response times, alongside ambulance clinical outcome metrics at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/ambulance-quality-indicators/

Ambulance paramedics are regulated by the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC), but the HCPC does not set a national list of procedures such as catheterisation or infusion. Paramedics are highly trained and competent professionals who may routinely and autonomously carry out procedures such as cannulation in the field.

However, while waiting for hospital admission, whether paramedics are able to undertake or supervise these procedures depends on a number of factors, such as local policies and clinical governance frameworks.

The Government expects all system partners to work together to provide robust protection measures, including handover protocols, to ensure patients are cared for in the right place, at the right time.

No specific assessment has been made. Paramedics are highly trained and competent professionals who routinely and autonomously carry out procedures where required.

While patients wait for hospital intervention, paramedics work alongside acute trusts to provide robust protection measures, alongside Rapid Release protocols implemented in most ambulance services and acute trusts, allowing ambulances to clear and be available for the next call. Where protocols have not been implemented, there is a plan in place for rapid implementation.

Whether paramedics are able to undertake or supervise treatment procedures whilst patients wait for admission to hospital depends on a number of factors, including local policies and clinical governance frameworks.

The Home Office publishes data on the carriage of naloxone, the opioid overdose antidote, by police officers and police staff. The data cannot be broken down into how many times naloxone has been administered by police officers.

There have been 1,232 administrations of naloxone in the United Kingdom by the police from June 2019 to 30 December 2024. The following table shows the breakdown of these administrations:

The Department is planning to publish counts of ambulance call-outs where naloxone was administered in the coming weeks. The figures reported will be analysis of data collected by the Department for surveillance purposes rather than official national statistics and it will cover from January 2022 as it does not hold complete data from England from before then.