Paramedical Staff
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the cost per responder of training and deploying motorcycle paramedics compared with standard ambulance crews.
Answered by Karin Smyth
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/
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