NI’s first paramedics degree to be based in Derry

The new three year course will help meet the growing workforce demands for more paramedics in Northern Ireland.

These future paramedics will be required in the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service and will also have a wider role to play in the transformation of the provision of health and social care within primary and secondary care in NI.

The BSc Honours Paramedic Science degree will provide students with the knowledge, critical understanding, skills, values and resilience to apply to enter the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) register as a qualified paramedic. Students will develop confident clinical decision-making skills and leadership attributes that will empower them to provide safe and effective patient care as a paramedic across a range of settings.

Ulster University has, since 2018, been working in partnership with the NI Ambulance Service Health and Social Care Trust (NIAS HSCT) and other care providers to deliver a Foundation degree in Paramedic Practice.

A change in HCPC Standards of Education and Training requires that, from September 2021, people seeking entry to the HCPC register as a paramedic must have completed a HCPC approved course at the level of Bachelor degree with honours. Ulster’s BSc Hons Paramedic Science course has been recommended for HCPC approval and will take its first cohort of 40 students in September 2021.

Professor Carol Curran, Executive Dean of the Faculty of Life and Health Sciences at Ulster University, says the programme will meet the growing demand for paramedics in a range of different care settings across NI.

For more information about the course and how to apply, visit: https://www.ulster.ac.uk/courses/202122/paramedic-science-23034