International Paramedic Day 2022

Kim Toon

Hello, I am Kim Toon, Project Manager of the West Yorkshire Faculty of Advancing Practice based in Health Education England (HEE). We provide strategic direction and a coordinated approach to enable Advancing Practice roles such as Advanced Clinical Practitioners, Physician Associates, First Contact Practitioners and Specialist and Advanced Paramedics to be implemented to support the ICB priorities.

I joined the Ambulance Service in 2005 as a Control Room Assistant taking 999 calls and went on to be a Student Paramedic in 2008 after the Bradley Report was published. I have held various posts including working on frontline ambulances and Rapid Response Vehicles, Senior Clinical Advisor in the Emergency Operations Centre, Senior Clinical Floorwalker for NHS11 and Major Trauma Coordinator. In 2018 I undertook a short secondment as a Clinical Manager (Quality) which sparked an interest in patient safety, investigations, governance and medicines management. The following year I secured a place on the HEE Future Leader’s Programme as a Clinical Leadership Fellow in the North School of Pharmacy & Medicines Optimisation (NSPMO) leading on a project to reduce patient harm through medicines errors in care homes. I was, and still am the only paramedic to date to have worked in NSPMO which makes me very proud!

After returning to the Ambulance Service in the first wave of the pandemic where I worked in the Senior Clinical Support Cell and as a Clinical Practice Developer in the Emergency Operations Centre, I started a second Fellowship as the North East and Yorkshire Regional AHP Fellow working with the ICS AHP Faculties on workforce issues and challenges across the North East & Yorkshire Region.

I left the Ambulance Service in April 2021 to start my current position with the West Yorkshire Faculty of Advancing Practice. As I am still a registered Paramedic our Faculty takes a lead for Advancing Practice in the Ambulance Services covering the North East & Yorkshire Region. Last year I had a short secondment as Interim Paramedic Quality Lead for the HEE East of England Quality & Commissioning Team working to improve the Practice Learning Environment for Paramedic Students.

Paramedic Education remains a passion of mine and I have loved delivering sessions as a Guest Lecturer at two of the region’s universities. I am proud to have been part of the working group at the College of Paramedics for International Paramedics Day and involved in the development of the University of Huddersfield’s MSc Paramedic Science (Pre-registration) programme so I will be celebrating International Paramedic’s Day at their Paramedic Picnic.

I might not be as ‘hands on’ clinically as I used to be, but I am #ProudToBeAParamedic and would recommend it as a career. Afterall, #NotAllParamedicsWearGreen!

Andy Morris

Hello, I am Andy Morris and I’m an operational HART paramedic Team Leader with the Yorkshire Ambulance Service. The Hazardous Area response Team (HART) is a department that lies within the Emergency Preparedness Resilience and Response (EPRR) and special operations section with in the service. HART deal with a multitude of incidents that have the potential to be of a hazardous nature. This can range from emergencies at height, underground, in water, CBRNe and chemical incidents be it accidental or intentional attacks. HART paramedics are trained with several technical and advanced clinical skills to able to deal with these types of jobs.

I began my Yorkshire Ambulance career in 1999 as part of the Patient Transport Service (PTS) as a driver, two years later I secured a place as a direct entry Paramedic, qualifying in 2003. I spent the next 10 years in this role at my local Ambulance station of South Kirkby working on front line ambulances and rapid response vehicles (RRV). In 2009 I was lucky enough to gain a position on HART that was developed nationally in wake of the 2007 London Bombings and announcement the London was to hold the 2012 Olympics. The role of the HART paramedic has developed since its initial beginnings, with the introduction of swift water rescue, high consequence infectious disease (HCID) transfers, firearms / ballistic incidents and pre-hospital surgical skills. In 2017 I started my current role as HART Team Leader, responsible for a team of 6 HART paramedics this includes maintenance of compliance, training, welfare, on scene command and day to day running of station duties. 

I have been a Paramedic now for nearly 20 years and still enjoy the role, the joy and satisfaction of helping people in their hour of need is still as appealing as it was when I first started my career. It’s a position that gives me an enormous sense of pride and privilege and I would recommend becoming a paramedic to anyone wanting a exciting, caring, worthwhile career in a vital sector of the National Health Service.

Tony Blinkhorn

My name is Tony Blinkhorn and I am a Command and Resilience Educator with the Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust working within their Training Academy based in Wakefield.

In this role I provided Major Incident training to all trust staff as well as awareness training on the Trusts Special Operations and Specialists Resources that are available.

I also provide specialist commander training to all the trusts commanders at all levels of command.

I Also dual role as a NILO (National Interagency Liaison Officer) in which I provide on-call support and advice to commanders, of all levels, during complex, untoward and major incident.

I started out as an Emergency Medical Technician and developed into the role of a Paramedic after two years. After working from the same station for several years I moved into the role of a Clinical Supervisor/Team Leader with the Hazardous Area Response Team (HART). I was with HART from its original inception until I left to join the training academy in 2019 as a non-clinical educator.

What I most enjoy about my role is that I get to work with a multitude of different colleagues from across the entire trust’s region and from all different clinical levels and roles. I still attend jobs as a NILO, but these tend to be the more complex, difficult, and extra ordinary multi-agency incidents.

Being a Paramedic was never anything I had really considered, I applied through a job advert whilst in a boring customer services desk job as I needed an escape. Twenty-Two years later I am still here wishing I had joined sooner. At times its difficult, emotional, and stressful, other times its interesting, fun, and rewarding.

Caz Hinds

My name is Caz, and I am the Regional Allied Health Professions (AHP) Workforce Lead for Health Education England (HEE) North East and Yorkshire (NEY). The primary function of HEE and my role is to provide strategic professional expertise and services to support the development of the current and future workforce in the NEY. My role aligns to my values and passion in being able to lead/ drive transformational change through collaboration, innovation, and motivation to create transformational and sustainable change that benefits the workforce and patients.

The journey to this role has been diverse and challenging but most importantly it’s been rewarding and exciting! My aspiration to become a Paramedic was ignited at the age of 19yrs when I first joined the Ambulance Service as an Emergency Medical Dispatcher responsible for taking 999 calls from the public. As part of my training, we spent time with operational Ambulance crews so that we could gain an insight into what happened when they arrived and we ended the call – within the first hour of my first shift I was hooked, I knew that this was the job for me! I quickly secured a place on the paramedic degree apprenticeship course and wore my ‘student paramedic epaulets’ with both pride and fear that before long I would be the Paramedic. However, this fear was short lived as I was (still am) supported by an amazing network of Ambulance colleagues across the breadth of the service.

Once registered I moved into the Hazardous Area Response Team (HART) as an Operational Paramedic and then onto a Clinical Supervisor/ Team Leader where I developed a further passion for supporting colleagues through education and leadership as I believe (still do!) that our workforce deserves the same care, compassion, and support that we provide our patients, as this enables them to thrive and deliver excellent patient centred care. I cherished my time in HART and gained a multitude of skills and experiences that propelled me into the next stage of my career which focused on leadership.  From HART, I secured a place on the HEE Future Leader’s Programme as a Clinical Leadership Fellow which has led to system and regional level leadership roles.

What I love about my career is the diversity of opportunities and roles that I’ve undertaken and the ability to say that I’ve enjoyed every stage. Not all Paramedics wear green, but our underpinning resilience, analytical and effective problem-solving/ reasoning skills, and desire to help never goes – it’s what enables us to move into other roles/ sectors and thrive, no matter what the challenge. I will always be proud to be a Paramedic and would encourage anyone to join our profession as there is a universe of opportunities that you can explore through the entirety of your career.