The Faculty of Pre-Hospital Care enters its 20th year

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The provision of pre-hospital care in the UK has changed dramatically in the 19 years since the College’s Faculty of Pre-Hospital Care (FPHC) was founded in 1996. Back then, the number of paramedics was a fraction of the estimated 15,000 who now work in the UK and there was no College of Paramedics. There were approximately 30 to 40 ambulance services in the UK, whereas today there are 13. National organisations have also been formed, including the Ambulance Service Chief Executives Association and Ambulance Service Medical Directors Association.

Against this changing background, it is important that the Faculty positions itself to ensure credibility and that it is seen as a leading academic organisation in pre-hospital care. It is therefore important to recognise that the Faculty is an academic organisation and not a statutory provider of pre-hospital care. We are extremely grateful to the resident, council, and chief executive of the College for the support and freedom they have allowed the Faculty in its development.

The Faculty was founded upon work already taking place in the College, in particular the Diploma in Immediate Medical Care, which had its first diet in 1988. Now, with more than 600 Members, our multi-professional work and the activity of nurses and paramedics – as well as doctors – is vital to the development of its aims.

A pivotal force in the development of the new General Medical Council-recognised subspecialty of Pre-hospital Emergency Medicine, the RCSEd has been appointed lead college for liaison between the Intercollegiate Board for Training in Pre-hospital Emergency Medicine and the GMC.

Read full article Original published in Surgeons’ News, December 2015