New Petitions

Thank you. It is a pleasure to appear in front of the committee virtually. I am standing in for Rachel Taylor, who is, unfortunately, unable to make it to the meeting. I have a statement to read, after which I will be happy to take questions.

It is important to open about the premise of the campaign, which is something that we all believe: Scotland fundamentally values diversity and the development of a safer, stronger and more inclusive society, where everyone can live in peace and realise their potential. As a society, we recognise that everyone should be provided with a fair opportunity to reach that potential.

However, student paramedics in Scotland are faced with a challenge. It is a challenge that students face after competing with hundreds of others to achieve a spot in a highly competitive area of study, and one that creates a barrier to achieving the goal that they work so hard for. Student paramedics face the barrier of financial restrictions.

Financial restrictions should not pose a barrier to higher education in Scotland. Ordinarily, students would be able to work part time during their studies and full time during the summer months. However, like student nurses and midwives, student paramedics do not have that ability, because we must complete more than 2,500 unpaid placement hours to complete our course. That makes students from a paramedic science background seem unreliable to businesses and employers. Those who are able to get a job are working a huge amount—in their studies, their placement and their job.

The Scottish Government created the nursing and midwifery bursary to make nursing a more accessible field of study, and to help to fill the acute occupational shortage that is faced by NHS Scotland, as is highlighted by publicly available reports. Paramedics are on the same shortage occupation list, which is published by the Scottish Government, and are on the United Kingdom Government's shortage occupation list.

Paramedic studies and nursing studies are similar, although the courses differ somewhat, but despite the similarities between the courses, the support that is received is not similar. For example, an adult learner over the age of 25 who studies nursing or midwifery would receive a minimum of 900 per cent of the support that a student paramedic of similar age gets, based on the basic non-repayable bursary alone.

The Scottish Government has brought the nursing and midwifery bursary up to £10,000 of financial support per year, as of academic year 2020-21. None of that is repayable, which allows student nurses and midwives to enter their new career path debt free. We believe that that difference in funding does not reflect the Scottish Government’s faith and beliefs, and that student paramedics should also receive that kind of excellent support in order to avoid facing personal austerity.

The similarities are evident—a demanding schedule and a desperate need to increase numbers in the workforce apply to nurses, midwives and paramedics alike. With an excellent support system already in place for student nurses and midwives, it seems obvious that the next logical step for the Scottish Government would be to extend that support to student paramedics.

The Scottish Ambulance Service is severely understaffed and the in-house training that ambulance technicians can undergo to train as paramedics is soon to become redundant. Previously, becoming a paramedic was an occupational route; however, the professional standards that are set by the Health and Care Professions Council have changed and will, from 1 September 2021, require all new registering paramedics to have an HCPC-approved degree from one of five Scottish universities.

Our campaign is already fully supported by several ambulance service workers unions, including the GMB, Unison and Unite. Their members know better than anyone else how desperately the service needs more staff, because they are the staff of the service. We want to become life-savers and care-givers—the people on whom you know you can count in the hour when you most need help. We are ready and willing to take on the challenges of the work, and to dedicate our lives to helping others, and we are asking for help in achieving that.

It is not only the trade unions that support our campaign—we also have support from the College of Paramedics, which is the national professional body that represents all paramedics across all four nations of the United Kingdom. Its chief executive, Tracy Nicholls, was one of our earliest supporters, and we are really proud that the professional body also backs our campaign for student paramedics in Scotland to get a bursary.

It does not stop there. We also have the backing of the National Union of Students in Scotland, which recognises the large amounts of placement work and study that make paid work inaccessible for student paramedics.

Since we launched our campaign, the response has been fantastic. We now have the backing of all but one party in Holyrood: the Pay Student Paramedics campaign is supported by the Scottish Greens, the Scottish Liberal Democrats, the Scottish Conservatives and Scottish Labour. We have backing from the trade unions, the professional association for paramedics, NUS Scotland and four political parties in Scotland. The Scottish Government states that student paramedics already have several aspects of their course paid for, including tuition fees and occupational health checks. That is true, but nurses and midwives also receive that support, and are better supported than student paramedics, on top of that.

Creating a student paramedic bursary or matching us with the existing nursing and midwifery bursary would open the doors to so many more caring and committed people who want to become paramedics. Recruitment is difficult and the job is tough, but the call for more paramedics now, and for the future, is something that the Scottish Government should be striving to answer.

That is why we are pleading for change and asking the Scottish Government to establish a bursary for student paramedics that is equal to the support that nursing and midwifery students in Scotland currently receive. We believe that that would, in turn, strengthen our national health service for generations to come.

We do not have the exact numbers at the moment. The numbers that we have been working with for our financial projections are based on current student numbers at the one university in Scotland that runs the course. Last year, 100 students were training, but there will now be 50 students at each university, so the cost of the bursary would be £3.5 million going into this year, going up to £5.5 million and then £7.5 million to reflect increasing numbers. There will be 350 student paramedics training in Scotland this year, 550 the year after that and 750 in the subsequent year.

Through the petition, we are seeking from the Scottish Government the same level of commitment as is given to nursing and midwifery students. The reason why is that we see a clear similarity between how their and our courses are structured. We spend the same amount of time on placement and we even take some of the same modules in our first year of study, so there is a definite crossover between the courses. We are asking for the same amount.

It is hard to say. I recognise that nurses and midwives are incredibly valuable, and they definitely deserve their bursary. We have a lot of time for them and always work with them.

There is a perception among some student paramedics that we are not as highly valued, but I believe that the Scottish Government has made an oversight. Becoming a paramedic used to involve an occupational training route, through which people would be paid by the Scottish Ambulance Service as they trained. Only very recently has training moved to a professional route through university. The Scottish Government has changed the procedure for becoming a paramedic, but the funding has yet to catch up.

The programme is three years long. Like most programmes in Scotland, the programme is slightly unusual this year, because of the Covid pandemic. Teaching in the first part of the year will be online, through theoretical learning. As we go through the course, student paramedics are expected to get closer and closer to being independent paramedics. At the end of our first year, we should be doing 75 per cent of the job of a paramedic, under minimal supervision; by the end of our second year, we should be doing 80 per cent of the job, under almost no supervision; and we would, by the end of the third year, obviously be expected to practise fully as a paramedic.

The problem is that we are on placement for sometimes 16 to 20 weeks. During those placements, we shadow paramedics who work shifts. The shifts are 12 hours long, and we might do them for three or four days in a row, which means that we would be unable to work during that week. It would be very unreasonable to expect a student paramedic to do a 12-hour shift, go to another job, sleep and then go back to work. I wish that there were that many hours in the day, but there are not.

The problem is that the struggle comes primarily in the second and third years, and in the latter half of the first year of the degree. Unlike normal students, many student paramedics do not work over summer; we are unable to do so because we are on placement. A high number of the hours for which we are on placement are unsociable hours, which means that we cannot gain regular employment.

To answer the question, the largest problems will happen when students are on placement. Placements can sometimes be with the Ambulance Service, but we also have placements on maternity and mental health wards and in care homes. Paramedics are not just running around on the streets. We have a wide variety of skills that take a long time to learn. We need the bursary so that we can fully commit ourselves to the role.

09:45

Yes, that is definitely correct. I could not have put it better, myself. We recently conducted a report on a survey of student paramedics. Many said that they feel financial strain and are unable to work, because they have to do the placements. Because of our service to the Scottish Ambulance Service, we feel constrained from being able to get regular work.

Thank you. We have written to the cabinet secretary a couple of times to tell her what we would like, so I thank you for presenting me with the opportunity to tell her virtually.

We would like recognition of the hard work and training that we put into becoming paramedics. No one takes up the job for the pay or for the hours, or because it is easy. We take it up because we care. We want to be there for the Scottish people when they are struggling. We want to be there to pick your granny up off the floor when she has had a fall, to hold your hand when you are delivering the baby at home on your own, and to give you support in those heart-wrenching moments. All we are asking is for a bursary, so that we can focus on that and not have to worry about our finances and where we will get money.

I say to Jeane Freeman that we are not asking for a lot, but for just enough to get by—£10,000 would give us equality and parity with student nurses and midwives. I appreciate that the Scottish Government is undertaking a review at the moment. That is fantastic; I am glad to see that it is being proactive. However, student paramedics are struggling now; classmates in the years above mine are having a tough time. I have welcomed the review, but it needs to happen now and not in the future.

Yes, that is exactly it. We need action now to stop student paramedics living on the poverty line.

Thank you.

Thank you for that question. We have concerns about that as well. There was a report in The Times in, I think, January 2020—it has been a strange year, so forgive me if I do not get the dates right—that said that the ambulance service failed to cover 42,000 shifts. That shows that there is a shortage of paramedics. We worry that, without a bursary, we will not be able to fill that gap, which puts current paramedics under a huge amount of strain.

One reason why we need the bursary is to ensure that student paramedics can complete their training and take some of the pressure off regular paramedics. In May 2019, Unison released a report called “An emergency but no accident—A UNISON survey of Scottish Ambulance Service staff”. I would like to read one statement from it that I think is telling in relation to the workforce. It says:

“Despite a small increase in numbers 98% of paramedics said their workload was heavier including 83% who stated it was much heavier, It’s not just about call numbers but also about the nature of those calls.”

That is one of the big issues for us. We need to get a proper bursary scheme in place so that we can get trained paramedics, in the numbers that the Scottish Government has asked for, into the Ambulance Service as soon as possible.

I cannot comment on that, because I do not have a good enough understanding of the workflow programming for the Ambulance Service. However, no matter what the numbers, if they are to be higher, we need a bursary to ensure that people do not drop out. No matter how many places there are, if students are not properly funded and cannot complete the course, we will encounter workforce problems. Although I cannot comment on the number of places, a bursary is essential if we are to increase the number of students reaching matriculation and confirmation by the HCPC to become paramedics.

I am sorry, but how does what sit with them?

I see what you mean.

The reason why we make a comparison with nurses and midwives is that they currently receive a bursary. One reason why that bursary was put in place is because those jobs are on an occupational shortage list. The job of paramedic is also on an occupational shortage list. The reason why we make that comparison is that we are looking to achieve the same thing, and the programme structures are the most similar, due to the unsocial hours.

It would have a massively positive impact if the bursary were to be introduced. I outlined previously, in answer to Gail Ross, the emotional reasons why we want it, but there is also a question of accessibility. There used to be an occupational route in which people were paid, which meant that the course was open to anyone, because people did not have to worry about how they were going to pay for their kids or about caring responsibilities.

The problem now is that, without proper funding in place, we limit the type of people who can become paramedics. Because paramedics interact with people from all walks of life, we need people from all walks of life to become paramedics if we are to be successful. The bursary is important for accessibility so that people who are having a career change later in life can do the course, or so that people with children or caring responsibilities can do it.

A bursary would not only make things easier for those who are currently doing the course and relieve the financial burdens and emotional pressures on student paramedics; it would make the course more accessible for anyone who wants to do it in future.

I do not have any figures on that, but I can try to get some and come back to the committee with them, if that would be helpful.

From the people with whom I have interacted who are going into the five universities in Scotland, it would definitely be accurate to say that paramedic students are older and have already been working. When I did my first degree, my cohort was very young—it was homogenous in that sense. However, I know of parents with two kids, people who are in their 40s and 50s, and people who have served in our armed forces as medics and are now training to become paramedics who are currently on the course. I know that NHS nurses who are changing profession are on the course. Unlike on many courses, the age range of the people on the course is very diverse. There are people who have come out of college and people who are changing their career later in life on it. A large proportion of people on the course are over 25 and are not supported by their parents. We would class them as independent students.

It would be hard for me to give an answer to that, because I am only just beginning the journey. Obviously, the Health and Care Professions Council made the decision for a reason, and it would be foolish of me to try to second-guess people who are very experienced in making those decisions. However, it seems to me that the changeover from an occupational route to a university-based route has happened without necessarily the funding to follow that.

Yes. It seems that there has not been transition planning in terms of funding. The cost is very small. We have worked out that 0.04 per cent of the current health budget would be needed for funding in the third year, when we would have the maximum number of paramedics training in Scotland. It is important to note that it is not an expensive transition.

We have not planned that yet; we hoped to plan it more in our conversations with the Scottish Government. The benefit that we can immediately see is that, by having a properly funded paramedic course and having more paramedics graduate, fewer shifts would miss being covered and there would be better response times. There is also a human factor that we cannot put into a cost analysis. Stress would be taken off current paramedics, and a better service would be delivered to our users. We cannot put a cost on a paramedic getting there 10 minutes earlier and perhaps making a life-saving difference.

Yes. My experience is slightly more limited than that of the petitioner—I am only just going into my first year—but, from the interactions that we have had with the campaign and the people involved, I would say that it is definitely a mature course. Although there are younger people on the course, I would definitely say that it is a course for people who are coming to it a little bit later. Being a paramedic requires life experience. The applications for the courses are at a very high level. I am studying at Glasgow Caledonian University, and only 4 per cent of the people who apply are accepted on to the course. That trend comes out at the application and interview stage, too.

Thank you, Maurice.

Thank you very much, everyone. It has been a pleasure to appear before the committee today. Thank you all for putting your questions in such good faith. I really hope that we can work to get the situation sorted out for student paramedics in Scotland.