Paramedic Science (Degree Apprenticeship) BSc(Hons)

Overview

Continue your career within the ambulance service whilst studying to become a paramedic. This apprenticeship course has been designed to enable Associate Ambulance Practitioners to become paramedics. The course provides an ideal opportunity to develop the skills, knowledge and professional attributes to practice effectively as a paramedic working within a complex and changing environment.

This course is currently open to existing Yorkshire Ambulance Service staff who have successfully completed the Associate Ambulance Practitioner (AAP) programme. Holding the AAP qualification will enable you to commence your studies in Year 2 of the course. On successful completion of the programme, you’ll be eligible to apply to the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) for registration as a paramedic.

The course provides the opportunity to develop:

Skilled clinical professionals who are able to assess and manage service users across an age spectrum, who are committed to collaboration in health and social care.
Resourceful and adaptable clinicians who are able to establish safe environments and incorporate the necessary practical skills.
Reflective practitioners who are committed to continuing professional development and life-long learning, with the ability to appraise and analyse research, understand evidenced-based practice and their role in enhancing future developments of paramedic practice.

Whilst undertaking the course, you’ll remain employed by Yorkshire Ambulance Service. The course will be split between work-based learning and off the job theoretical training delivered at the University. Off the job training will be delivered through a blended approach including lectures, seminars, group work, simulation and guided independent study. You’ll also have the opportunity to hear the experiences and viewpoints from service users and carers, who also helped to design the programme. Work-based learning provides training through practice, where you’ll work as part of an emergency ambulance crew supported by a team of experienced paramedics. You’ll also undertake non-ambulance placements in a range of different clinical areas.

If you’re thinking of studying an apprenticeship course or are an employer looking for an apprenticeship for your employees, you’ll also find useful information on our Degree Apprenticeship webpages.

Key Information

Entry requirements

To apply for this course Yorkshire Ambulance Service employees must:

Have Associate Ambulance Practitioner (AAP) Level 4.
Have a minimum of 2 years’ experience accident and emergency experience.
Have Level 2 qualification in Functional skills in both Maths and English (or equivalent).
Be compliant with all trust Statutory and Mandatory training.

All the information provided in support of your application may be checked and must be verifiable as a true record. Every person who applies for this course and meets the minimum entry requirement will be given the same opportunity in the selection process. A joint selection will be held between the University of Huddersfield and Yorkshire Ambulance Service. You must have approval from your operational line manager.

Offers will be subject to Occupational Health clearance and references from your employer. You also need satisfactory enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) completed within the 6 months prior to starting the course.

You need to be able to meet the physical demands of a variety of placement settings. As per Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) (2014) ‘Standards of Proficiency’, you must be able to ‘understand and be able to apply appropriate moving and handling techniques’. Having a disability should not be seen as a barrier to becoming a health and care professional. As such the University will consider reasonable adjustments, in line with any disclosed application. Further guidance relating to becoming a health and care professional is found in the HCPC (2015) ‘Health, disability and becoming a health and care professional’ guidance.

If your first language is not English, you will need to meet the minimum requirements of an English Language qualification. The minimum for IELTS is 6.5 overall with no element lower than 6.0, or equivalent. Read more about the University’s entry requirements for students outside of the UK on our Where are you from information pages.

Start dates

16 September 2024

17 March 2025

Duration

3 years full-time

Course Detail

Core modules:

Introduction to Patient Assessment and Management (Degree Apprenticeship)

This module introduces systematic patient assessment and provides the opportunity for you to develop the knowledge and skills required to manage patients within paramedic practice. It will assist you in gaining an understanding of medical conditions and traumatic presentations, as well as apply appropriate assessment and management. You’ll also have the chance to develop an understanding of normal and altered physiological measurements and changing dynamic decision making, as well as scope of practice in patient management.

Law, Policy and Ethics for Paramedics (Degree Apprenticeship)

This module provides you with the opportunity to gain an understanding of relevant legal and ethical principles within paramedic practice. You’ll be provided with an overview of applied law and ethics to paramedic practice and the application to healthcare delivery. You’ll learn about the professional attributes and conduct expected of the HCPC with a practical focus on the application to practice. You’ll also be introduced to relevant policies and procedures underpinning practice, including code of conduct, information governance, social media and health and safety.

Non-technical Skills for Paramedics (Degree Apprenticeship)

You’ll have the opportunity to develop the non-technical skills paramedics require including patient centred care, experience, communication and teamwork. You’ll demonstrate professional and passionate behaviour to emergency and urgent care situations, exhibiting a positive attitude in helping to improve patient care/experience. You’ll also explore the importance of being committed to the quality and care of service users and significant others, as well as learn from successes and mistakes in line with the NHS Constitution.

Paramedic Care across the Lifespan (Degree Apprenticeship)

You’ll have the opportunity to gain introductory knowledge and understanding in order to be responsive and provide care to people of all ages. You’ll learn how to provide care to individuals in a compassionate and supporting manner, as well as to patients and significant others with acute and critical presentations. The module will also assist you in gaining an understanding of the different approaches and considerations relevant within paramedic practice whilst acting in the interest of service users at all times.

Work Based Learning 1

This module introduces you to the necessary skills required for contemporary paramedic practice. It will assist you in gaining and refining your skills to care for, monitor, manage and support service users and their families during clinical practice. This practical module provides the opportunity to learn and develop skills through simulated and paramedic practice placements with the ambulance service and other healthcare environments.

Core modules:

Anatomy, Physiology and Pathophysiology (Degree Apprenticeship)

This module provides a systematic approach to anatomy and physiology of acute and critical illness. It will assist you to gain an understanding of human development across the age spectrum (conception to death). You’ll explore altered pathology and its relation to acute and critical illness and diseases, as well as be introduced to pharmacological principles and their application to therapeutic regimes.

Emergency Care (Degree Apprenticeship)

This module provides the opportunity to build your knowledge of acute and critical illness across the age spectrum. It will assist you to recognise emergency presentations and gain an understanding of how to provide effective emergency pharmacological therapy and intervention within emergency care. You’ll also learn how to formulate management plans and develop robust clinical decision making. Emphasis throughout the module will be placed on the holistic management of the individual to provide optimum care.

Patient Assessment and Management (Degree Apprenticeship)

You’ll have the opportunity to develop the knowledge, understanding and skills required to undertake a systematic patient assessment. You’ll focus on current evidence informing approaches to patient encounters in unscheduled and emergency environments. You’ll learn clinical reasoning and problem-solving skills to enable optimum patient care. The module will cover systematic history taking and clinical assessment to underpin clinical decision making and provide holistic care within an emergency setting.

Research and Evidence Based Practice (Degree Apprenticeship)

This module explores the application of research to paramedic practice. You’ll have the opportunity to gain knowledge and skills of research methods, build critical appraisal skills and develop an understanding of evidence-based practice within health. You’ll demonstrate your understanding of the different types of research undertaken and where each is applicable. The module builds upon existing healthcare ethics, by exploring the ethical considerations within research. It will prepare you to undertake a study relevant to paramedic practice in year 3.

Work Based Learning 2 (Degree Apprenticeship only)

You’ll have the opportunity to develop your clinical competence and the necessary qualities required in paramedic practice. This will include the skills you require to care for, monitor, manage and support service users and their families during clinical practice. This practical module builds on patient assessment and introduces clinical decision-making skills allowing you to refine your practice. By achieving this, you’ll emulate the professional attributes and conduct as expected of the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC). Within the practice element you'll undertake a defined range of competencies under direct or indirect supervision.

Core modules:

Evidence Based Practice and Improvement (Degree Apprenticeship)

This module provides you with the opportunity to refine the research skills you have previously gained, enabling you to complete a systematic literature review. You will evidence learning through the application of improvement theories and continue to demonstrate your understanding of research processes and how they apply to professional practice. The module enables you to align topical and contemporary professional issues to recognise and act on opportunities for improvement.

Integrated Urgent Care (Degree Apprenticeship)

This module provides the opportunity for you to advance your existing knowledge of urgent and unscheduled care. You’ll explore broader aspects of the contemporary paramedic role including values base practice, long term conditions and safety netting. You’ll critically analyse strategies that enable enhanced performance within the care team and reflect on the value to patients of understanding contemporary practice. Integral to this process is the examination of your professional role and responsibilities in managing patient care.

Minor Injury and Illness Care in the Community (Degree Apprenticeship)

The module aims to provide theoretical, clinically focused education around minor injuries and illness. You’ll have the opportunity to develop knowledge and skills in relation to the assessment, diagnosis and management of common presentations within paramedic practice. You’ll also be supported to demonstrate border principles of holistic care including health promotion, risk management and alternative care pathways. Lectures will focus on the evidence base whilst practical sessions will focus on the application within the paramedic sphere.

Transition to Paramedic Practice (Degree Apprenticeship)

You’ll have the opportunity to develop knowledge, appropriate attitudes and attributes for autonomous paramedic practice. You’ll explore the components of practice-based education that will allow you to successfully mentor, lead and develop others in practice. The module provides guidance and direction on matters that arise within practice supervision and explores your responsibilities and accountability as an autonomous professional. This will prepare you for the responsibilities of continued professional development and transition to practice as a newly qualified paramedic (NQP).

Work Based Learning 3

This module refines and consolidates contemporary paramedic practice. You’ll have the opportunity to advance to a sophisticated level of skill, preparing for transition into practice as an autonomous practitioner. You’ll comprehensively assess patients across the life spectrum by interpreting complex clinical data and manage their condition appropriately through intervention, pharmacology and non-technical skills. The module consolidates clinical decision making skills enabling you to lead within a simulated and practice environment.

Learning and teaching on this course will be delivered through a variety of methods including seminars, lectures, group work, practical experience, simulation, role play and computer based learning, for example quizzes, voting boards and forums. Your studies will be supported by the University's virtual learning environment. You’ll also complete work-based learning where you'll undertake practice placements both within the ambulance service and other health or social care environments. The blend of learning styles and environments though which you'll be taught are designed to create a high quality learning experience and provide diversity to allow you to actively engage in learning whilst providing realistic and effective preparation for progression into the paramedic profession.

Implementing the College of Paramedics (2017) recommendation of a spiral curriculum allows concepts to be revisited on a regular basis, at different levels of intensity and with variable emphasis to enable issues and themes to be explored in increasing depth and complexity. This facilitates knowledge, understanding and skills acquisition and the development of critical thinking, problem solving and reflective capacities essential for complex professional practice.

Modules are designed to embed transferable skills and to allow you to progressively increase your knowledge and confidence. Thus, the acquisition of practical skills and the confidence to perform academically and professionally is developed. Your choice in the development of your research ideas or improvement proposal encourages you to have greater engagement with and control over your learning and contribution to knowledge, as well as your professional practice.

Service user and carer engagement is embedded into the programme and some of the interactive classroom sessions will include input from patients/clients and individuals from the community. This will create authenticity and exploration of the emotional issues related to providing holistic, patient centred care. Anonymised patient stories in a variety of formats are also incorporated into teaching and learning, enabling a diversity, inclusion and a broader spectrum of patients, presentations and cultures.

The assessment methods on the course are varied and include a combination of coursework, practice/competency-based learning and examination including case-studies, presentations, objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs) and practical scenarios. The nature of the assessment varies from module to module, and mirrors the modes of communication expected of graduates in this field. This includes report writing, critique, case presentation and oral presentation of clinical findings. Assessment is based upon work-based situations through case studies to facilitate reflection and testing skills of critical analysis.

Practice based education will feature throughout the course, as well as work-based learning. This includes a variety of placement opportunities, as well as time supernumerary with a Practice Educator (PEd) within the ambulance service. Apprentice paramedics will be required to complete a practice assessment document (PAD).

At the end of the course there is an End Point Assessment (EPA), which is integrated into the course and verified at the course assessment board. The purpose of the EPA is to assess the values, skills, knowledge and behaviours of the apprentice as set out in the apprenticeship standard to confirm that the apprentice is occupationally competent.

The University of Huddersfield has been rated Gold in all three aspects of the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) 2023. We were the only university in Yorkshire and the Humber and the North West to achieve Gold ratings in all three aspects of the TEF among those announced in September 2023. In fact only 13 Universities, out of the 96 that were announced in September 2023, were Gold in all three ratings.
Further proof of teaching excellence: our staff rank in the top three in England for the proportion who hold doctorates, who have higher degrees, and hold teaching qualifications (HESA 2024). So, you’ll learn from some of the best, helping you to be the best.
We are first in the country for National Teaching Fellowships, which mark the UK’s best lecturers in Higher Education, winning a total of 22 since 2008 (2023 data).
We won the first Global Teaching Excellence Award, recognising the University’s commitment to world-class teaching and its success in developing students as independent learners and critical thinkers (Higher Education Academy, 2017).

At Huddersfield, you'll study the Global Professional Award (GPA) alongside your degree* so that you gain valuable qualities and experiences that could help you to get the career you want, no matter what your field of study is. On completion of the Award, you'll receive a GPA certificate from the University of Huddersfield, alongside the specialist subject skills and knowledge you gain as part of your degree, which may help to set you apart from other graduates.

Giving students access to the Global Professional Award is one of the reasons the University won ‘Best University Employability Strategy’ award at the National Graduate Recruitment Awards 2021. Find out more on the Global Professional Award webpage.

*full-time, undergraduate first degrees with a minimum duration of three years. This does not include postgraduate, foundation, top-up, accelerated or apprenticeship degrees.

Placements

Work based learning is a compulsory element of the course and you’ll this will be mainly undertaken in blocks. As well as working as part of an emergency ambulance crew supported by a team of experienced paramedics, you’ll also undertake non-ambulance placements in a range of different clinical areas. These may include acute mental health, emergency departments, minor injuries and illness, maternity and theatres.

“The non-ambulance placements are insightful, inspiring and empowering. Its insightful to see behind the scenes in various settings. Its inspiring to watch multidisciplinary teams treating patients. Its also empowering as it provides background knowledge for when patients ask questions."

Darrel Bedford, Currently studying Paramedic Science (Degree Apprenticeship) BSc(Hons)

Ofsted Outstanding courses

The University’s apprenticeship provision was awarded an outstanding rating by Ofsted in a recent inspection.

Huddersfield is only the second university to be awarded Ofsted’s outstanding rating for its apprenticeship provision in the last four years.

It is also the only university in the Yorkshire and Humber region and the north-west of England to have both an outstanding Ofsted rating for apprenticeships and to be a TEF Gold-rated university.

The University was awarded outstanding in all five categories:

Quality of education
Behaviour and attitudes
Personal development
Leadership and management
Apprenticeships

The apprenticeship provision was praised by Ofsted for the positive experiences of the apprentices, the research-informed knowledge of teaching staff, and for the strong relationships between the University’s leaders and employers.

Daphne Steele Facilities Tour

Discover how we’re shaping the future of healthcare education. Join student Ruth as she takes you on a tour of the University’s state-of-the-art Daphne Steele Building, part of our Health Innovation Campus. Explore cutting-edge learning spaces, including immersive simulation rooms, clinical labs, and real-world training environments like the Simbulance, Acute Ward and Podiatry Clinic. Designed to prepare the next generation of healthcare professionals, this facility offers hands-on experiences across a range of healthcare disciplines.

Facilities

High fidelity simbulance and equipment

Simulation of cardiac arrests in confined spaces

Practicing clinical skills inside the simbulance

Simulated house with viewing facilities

Technology simulates patient deterioration

Peer-led assessment learning fosters collaboration

Demonstrating the resuscitation of a patient

Extrication simulation using carry chair.

Trauma assessment scenario, assessing pupils.

Breathing and pulse assessment during scenario.

Discover more about the course

Your Career

Discover the job roles our graduates are working in now.

Professional links and accreditation

Recognised connections to give you an extra edge when you graduate.

Careers advice

Check out the personalised guidance we offer you.

Student Support

Discover all the support available so you can thrive.

Further Study

Learn about pursuing a Master’s or PhD at Huddersfield.

Research Excellence

See how our innovative research shapes what you'll learn.

Fees and Finance

Tuition Fees - full-time

As an apprentice, there is no tuition fee to pay for the higher or degree apprenticeship. Tuition fees are covered by your employer and the government through the Levy. As you'll be a paid employee, you are not able to take out a student loan.

Are you an employer? You’ll find lots of information about how apprenticeships are funded via the levy on our Degree Apprenticeship webpages.

If you require further information, please contact apprenticeships@hud.ac.uk

Fees and Finance

Tuition Fees - full-time

Are you an employer? You’ll find lots of information about how apprenticeships are funded via the levy on our Degree Apprenticeship webpages.

If you require further information, please contact apprenticeships@hud.ac.uk

Important information

When you enrol as an apprentice learner of the University, your study and time with us will be governed by a framework of regulations, policies and procedures, which form the basis of your agreement with us. These include regulations regarding the assessment of your course, academic integrity, your conduct (including attendance) and our disciplinary procedure. It is important that you familiarise yourself with these as you will be asked to agree to them when you join us as an apprentice. You will find a guide to the key terms here, along with the Student Protection Plan, where you will also find links to the full text of each of the regulations, policies and procedures referred to.

Although we always try and ensure we deliver our courses as described, sometimes we may have to make changes for the following reasons:

Changes to a course you have applied for but not yet started

If we propose to make a major change to an apprenticeship course that you have applied for, then we will tell you and your employer as soon as possible so that you can decide whether to withdraw your application prior to enrolment.

Although we always try and run all the courses we offer, we may occasionally have to withdraw a course you have applied for or delay your course start date if we consider this reasonably necessary, for example if there are not enough applicants to ensure you have a good learning experience. Where this is the case we will notify you and your employer as soon as reasonably possible. In such instances, we will work with you and your employer to agree a deferred start date, or cancel your application and, if appropriate, provide information regarding other local apprenticeship providers.

Changes to your course after you enrol as an apprentice

We will only make major changes to the core curriculum of a course or to our services if it is necessary for us to do so and provided such changes are reasonable. A major change is a change that materially changes the services available to you, or the outcomes, or a significant part, of your course, such as the nature of the award or a substantial change to module content, teaching days, classes, type of delivery or assessment of the core curriculum.

For example, it may be necessary to make a major change to reflect changes in the law or the requirements of the University’s regulators; to meet the requirements of an updated version of the apprenticeship standard relevant to your course; to meet the latest requirements of a commissioning or accrediting body; to improve the quality of educational provision; in response to student, examiners’ or other course evaluators’ feedback; and/or to reflect academic or professional changes within subject areas. Major changes may also be necessary because of circumstances outside our reasonable control, such as damage or interruption to buildings, facilities or equipment.

In exceptional circumstances, we may, for reasons outside of our control, be forced to discontinue or suspend your course. Where this is the case, a formal exit strategy will be followed and we will notify you and your employer as soon as possible about what your options are, which may include being provided with individual teaching to complete the award for which you were registered or claiming an interim award and exiting the University.

If a major change affects your course, we will notify you and your employer as soon as possible and will carry out suitable consultation with affected apprentices. If you and your employer reasonably believe that the proposed change will cause you detriment we will work with both of you to try to find an appropriate solution. Where one cannot be found we will provide reasonable support to assist you with transferring your remaining apprenticeship learning to another training provider if you and your employer wish to do so.

Termination of employment

As your employer is funding your apprenticeship course, you must remain in relevant employment for the duration of the course until you have completed your end point assessment. Under the apprenticeship rules, if you are made redundant and you have completed 75% of the practical period or have less than 6 months left, then you may complete the course. Otherwise, unless you find alternative relevant employment within 12 weeks of the date you are made redundant, then you will be withdrawn from the course.

The Office for Students (OfS) is the principal regulator for the University. The ESFA is the principal regulator for your apprenticeship course.

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