Very few people seem to be aware that we have paramedics at NELFT. For this reason Ramiz thought it was really important to tell us more about the team and introduce us to the role and benefits paramedics can bring to patients in the community.

Ramiz and Anna - NELFT Paramedics

I’m Ramiz, a Waltham forest rapid response paramedic since 2019. I work along side a mostly nurse lead team, a another paramedic called Anna and very recently, physiotherapists have joined the team.

Anna and I have over twenty years experience between us focusing on prehospital urgent care.

Many people only associate paramedics with ambulances, blue flashing lights and pure adrenaline, as we save the day at a road traffic collision, or the Myocardial infarction at the top of a towering crane, however, the role of the paramedic has changed significantly over the last few years, especially in the primary care setting, where our triaging skills and rapid assessments can save time and prevent the patient from attending the already overcrowded hospitals.

Standard training at university incorporates advanced physical health assessment. 90% of university placements being in the community means we are already familiar with respiratory and cardiac systems (to name a few) as well as the importance of a hot cuppa in your own home. Most recently Anna and I have been part of an urgent falls pilot. Alongside physiotherapists and our nursing colleagues, we have kept an average of 79% of patients at home following a fall in the first three months. Our expertise at not only getting patients off the floor in awkward situations, but trauma and musculoskeletal assessment following the fall mean we are confident in which patient is appropriate for hospital and which can continue to receive treatment in the community to ensure this doesn’t happen to patients again. 

The rapid response team in Waltham Forest was already ahead of all the teams that run this service within the UK and identified a need to bring in more Allied Health Professionals (AHPs) to provide a holistic assessment. I have learnt a huge amount from my nursing colleagues. such as minor wound care, ulcer treatment and catheter training, and I believe the mix of AHP within rapid response is very beneficial to patients. This unique mixture of skills learnt form our nursing colleagues has made Anna and I want to continue further clinically and we are both working to become non-medical prescribers.

Look out for the next instalment where we'll be featuring what a day in the life of a rapid response paramedic looks like.