Paramedic Science

Citizens of the UK, or those with indefinite leave to remain in the UK, can apply for this course.

If English is not your first language and you are not a national of a country deemed by either the UK Home Office or St George’s, University of London to be ‘majority English speaking’ listed here, you will be required to meet the English Language requirements outlined below. Tests are valid for a period of two years.

Voluntary and work experience

You should have work or voluntary experience in a medical or health-related field and be able to demonstrate a broad awareness of the scope of paramedic science. We consider anything that involves working directly with patients or people in need of care as relevant. Although clinical experience is useful, your work experience does not have to take place in a hospital. It can be paid or voluntary. We prefer hands-on work experience to shadowing. Working in a care home, hospice or doing community work with disabled adults or children are considered very relevant.

We do not specify a minimum amount of work experience and although you can use experiences from your past we always recommend that you include your most recent experience.

If you are applying on the basis of A Levels, you must meet both the A Level and GCSE requirements below.

GCSEs

If you are applying on the basis of International Baccalaureate, you need to meet both our Higher Level and Standard Level requirements, as outlined below.

If you are applying on the basis of an Access Diploma, you must meet both the Access Diploma and GCSE requirements below.

GCSEs

If you are applying from outside of the UK, you will need to meet the English language requirements outlined here. This is a group 1 course.

Citizens of the UK, or those with indefinite leave to remain in the UK, can apply for this course.

In addition to meeting the academic criteria for admission, you must be able to demonstrate an understanding of the paramedic role, and an awareness of and interest in potential career opportunities. Alongside this you should be able to demonstrate through relevant life and/or work experiences how your personal values align with the values of the NHS, and explain why you want to study Paramedic Science.

We understand the challenges for our prospective applicants for medicine and allied health courses trying to gain work experience at this time, particularly in clinical settings.    

In response to the government’s social distancing guidelines, which have a significant impact on all areas of life, we have chosen to relax our work experience requirements for prospective applicants for our courses which would normally require these.    

Despite the relaxed requirements, we still require our applicants to have an understanding of the realities of working as a healthcare professional and to show they have the necessary skills and attributes for their chosen career. Online resources can give you valuable insight into working in the healthcare sector and outline the wide range of careers and courses available. You can find a number of suggested resources for each of our courses here.

Should you receive an offer to study at St George’s, you will be required to complete a health check and be declared fit to study and practise by the Occupational Health (OH) department before you begin your studies.

The following vaccinations are mandatory for all healthcare students before you begin your studies:

• MMR (measles, mumps and rubella)
• Meningococcal meningitis
• Diphtheria
• Pertussis (whooping cough)
• Poliomyelitis
• Tetanus

As part of the process, you will also be screened by the OH team for Chickenpox, Tuberculosis, HIV and Hepatitis B and C.

When admitting candidates to study and practise as a health practitioner, we have an obligation to both patients and to the individual student. Candidates who are concerned about a health issue are advised to contact us.

This course will include work with children and vulnerable adults, so you will be required to submit a series of declarations.

If you are invited to an interview, we will request some additional information from you, regarding your criminal record, educational history and employment history. You will also have the opportunity to make any other declarations that you’d like us to be aware of. We may not able to consider applicants who were suspended from previous study/work due to fitness to practise issues or failure in assessments/examinations.

If you are made an offer, you will be required to complete an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check. More information about this is sent to applicants as part of the admissions process.

• Introduction to Paramedic Clinical Care

• Science for Paramedics

• Professional Practice 1

• Applied Paramedic Clinical Care

• Paramedic Management of Acute and Critical Illness

• Applied Science for Paramedics

• Professional Practice 2

• Assessment and Evaluation of Mental Health in Out of Hospital Setting

• Evidence Based Practice for Paramedics

• Paramedic approach and Management of Hospital Avoidance

• Paramedic Management of Minor Health Problems

• Transition to Paramedic Practice

You will be taught by an energetic, enthusiastic team bringing a wide range of clinical experience for both pre- and post-registration study. No other University offers such a range of paramedic teaching staff on one programme. Paramedic staff members come from a wide range of clinical backgrounds including critical care paramedics, patient transfer, and helicopter emergency medical service (HEMS). We also have a Red Cross Clinical Lead, mental health practitioner, urgent care and primary care specialists, anaesthetists, intensivists, educational technologist, senior technician, and an anatomist on the team.

Our teaching draws on the expertise of our placement collaborators and where possible* includes a number of inter professional away days working with other emergency services in and around London. Hugely popular and with limited places, Transport for London (TFL), London Fire Brigade (LFB) and METPOL (Metropolitan Police) days feature real-life accident and crime scenes, for example, requiring patient extraction from crashed vehicles or access to locked buildings, a mass casualty incident on an escalator or the underground, to name just a few.

We also offer a rich programme of guest lectures from consultant paediatricians, gynaecologists, doctors, midwives and paramedic facilitators from LAS and SECAmb (South East Coast Ambulance Service), as well as ethics, consent, mental health and end-of-life experts.

*Our priority remains to keep our staff and students safe and make sure we follow government guidance on Covid-19, which may affect the scheduling of inter-agency activities and on-site teaching.

We employ a range of assessment methods for this course, including essays, reports, presentations and exams as well as clinical practice assessments, case reviews and specific research topics.

• Emergency control centres

• General Practice

• HEMS

• Minor injury units

• NHS ambulances

• A&E

• Walk-in centres

• 111

• Police custody suites

• Prisons

• Oil rigs

• Rapid response units

• Specialist practice

• Management

• Research

• Teaching

You must provide the following.

• Full details of your Level 2 (GCSE or equivalent) qualifications with grades.

• Full details of your Level 3 (A-level or equivalent) qualifications with achieved/predicted grades.

• A personal statement (more information about this document is available on the UCAS website). We recommend that you include in your personal statement a recognition that studying a BSc Physiotherapy will include practice and study in a number of settings.

• An academic reference from your current or most recent institutions with predicted grades.

After submitting your application to UCAS:

• log in to UCAS Track and make sure all your academic details have been included

• if any subjects or predicted results are missing, email the admissions officer with your UCAS number and missing subjects and grades.

We will consider applications from applicants who wish to defer entry by a year, provided you plan to use the time constructively. If you are offered a place on the course and subsequently decide to defer, you must inform us by 1 June of the year of application.

We will send you an acknowledgement email and letter when we receive your application. Please make sure your email account is able to accept communications from St George’s as we will mainly communicate with you via email. Selected applicants will be invited to attend interview.

Decisions from St George’s will be entered onto UCAS Track and direct applicants will be contacted via email.

The existing learning outcomes for our modules and courses will remain in place. From September to December 2020 all students will primarily access their learning, including learning materials, via the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), Canvas. Hands-on practical teaching and learning activities will be delivered on campus with appropriate social distancing and personal protective equipment (PPE) measures put in place, and with controls on the number of people in each location.

The online components of the course will be designed to balance interactive real-time sessions with lecturers and other students, with self-paced independent study. Students will have clear learning pathways through the activities they are expected to engage with, and there will be opportunities to check learning and progress. We deliver a mix of theoretical and practical sessions throughout the programme and are hoping that there will be no change to practical elements of the course. Large group teaching will be delivered online until January at the earliest in line with university policy.

Personal tutor support and all other student support, such as the Academic Success Centre, will also be online for this period, using a range of methods for staying in touch, such as telephone, email and the University’s web conferencing systems BigBlueButton and MSTeams.

Pending Health Education England (HEE) approval, placements are currently expected to resume from September 2020 with minimum changes to planned delivery or timings. All students on placement will be expected to undertake a risk assessment and adhere to local Trust working patterns and guidance.  [Programme to add any specific details]

To get the most from online study, hardware requirements have been established and communicated to all existing students and offer holders. Students will need their own personal computer or laptop and an internet connection in their place of accommodation. This needs to be in place at the start of the course. Once enrolled, students will have the ability to use Office 365 as part of our institutional licence, and access software required for their modules/courses via AppsAnywhere. In addition, we offer Office for Mac via Ofice365, but only the following applications are available for Mac: Teams, Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook, OneNote. Web-based Office applications are available on Mac. Full details are available here. There is a provision for students who may struggle to meet the hardware requirements to contact our IT Hardship team.

The existing learning outcomes for our modules and courses will remain in place. From September to December 2020 all students will primarily access their learning, including learning materials, via the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), Canvas. Hands-on practical teaching and learning activities will be delivered on campus with appropriate social distancing and personal protective equipment (PPE) measures put in place, and with controls on the number of people in each location.

The online components of the course will be designed to balance interactive real-time sessions with lecturers and other students, with self-paced independent study. Students will have clear learning pathways through the activities they are expected to engage with, and there will be opportunities to check learning and progress. We deliver a mix of theoretical and practical sessions throughout the programme and are hoping that there will be no change to practical elements of the course. Large group teaching will be delivered online until January at the earliest in line with university policy.

Personal tutor support and all other student support, such as the Academic Success Centre, will also be online for this period, using a range of methods for staying in touch, such as telephone, email and the University’s web conferencing systems BigBlueButton and MSTeams.

Pending Health Education England (HEE) approval, placements are currently expected to resume from September 2020 with minimum changes to planned delivery or timings. All students on placement will be expected to undertake a risk assessment and adhere to local Trust working patterns and guidance.  [Programme to add any specific details]

To get the most from online study, hardware requirements have been established and communicated to all existing students and offer holders. Students will need their own personal computer or laptop and an internet connection in their place of accommodation. This needs to be in place at the start of the course. Once enrolled, students will have the ability to use Office 365 as part of our institutional licence, and access software required for their modules/courses via AppsAnywhere. In addition, we offer Office for Mac via Ofice365, but only the following applications are available for Mac: Teams, Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook, OneNote. Web-based Office applications are available on Mac. Full details are available here. There is a provision for students who may struggle to meet the hardware requirements to contact our IT Hardship team.

Students with pre-existing illnesses or disabilities, or who are shielding

If you suffer, or have suffered, from a serious illness (physical or psychological) or have a disability, or have been required to shield due to Covid-19, please let us know. St George’s is committed to supporting our students and will explore all reasonable adjustments to support you to thrive on your course.

Please contact our Disability Advisor as soon as possible with details to help us establish whether your health history or disability is likely to affect your ability to study or practise. This will also give us sufficient time to carry out a detailed assessment, obtain reports and organise additional expert assessments if required.

Attendance at site

Most of our courses include elements of teaching for which you will be required to attend the University site. Attendance at these sessions will be essential to enable you to engage with the course and undertake assessments.

Placements

You will be required to undertake a personal risk assessment before you can attend any placement that is part of your course (or undertake certain other activities, such as those which include the practice of clinical skills or require the use of PPE). Where a health concern arises, every effort will be made to identify alternative placement arrangements, but your health and safety will be the first priority, and alternative arrangements may not be possible. This may have implications for the continuation of your study. If you are clinically vulnerable or have been shielding, we strongly encourage you to contact the Disability Advisor now to undertake an assessment.

Students with pre-existing illnesses or disabilities, or who are shielding

If you're a student with a pre-existing illness or disability, or who is shielding, your course team will contact you to ask if you would like to complete a personal risk assessment before you return to the site. If you suffer from a serious illness which may increase your level of risk, or have been required to shield due to Covid-19, we recommend that you complete a personal risk assessment. St George’s is committed to supporting our students and will explore all reasonable adjustments to support you to thrive on your course. 

Attendance at site

For the majority of our courses, we will be delivering an element of face to face, hands-on teaching on campus in line with social distancing guidelines which you are required to attend. If you will be unable to attend teaching on-site due to a health reason, you must let us know by the start of the academic year so we can consider alternative arrangements to ensure you progress through the course. Mitigating Circumstances can still be submitted for unforeseen illnesses; however, being unable to attend the site due to shielding or being at heightened risk from a pre-existing illness or disability will not be accepted as grounds for Mitigating Circumstances. Please discuss this with your course team and complete a personal risk assessment so that all reasonable adjustment can be made.

Placements 

You will be required to undertake a personal risk assessment before you can attend any placement (or undertake certain other activities, such as those including the practice of clinical skills or requiring the use of PPE) that is part of your course. Where a health concern arises, every effort will be made to identify alternative placements arrangements, but your health and safety will be the first priority, and where alternative arrangements are not possible, there may be implications for your studies. If you are clinically vulnerable or have been shielding, we strongly encourage you to contact your course team now to undertake a personal risk assessment.

At this stage, we expect to deliver the course within the planned timescales to enable successful students to progress through the programme and to graduate without delay.

Although some assessments are designed to be taken on site, we have developed an alternative strategy to enable students to complete assessments remotely without coming on to campus.

The programme does include practical elements that are delivered in our paramedic simulation centre. These will run as planned in 2020/21 with appropriate social distancing measures in place.  There is a possibility that government advice on social distancing may change. If that is the case, we will endeavour to delay practical components of the programme to a subsequent semester (or year) to protect the safety of students.

At this stage, we expect to deliver the course within the planned timescales to enable successful students to progress through the programme and to graduate without delay.

Although some assessments are designed to be taken on site, you will be aware that we have developed an alternative strategy to enable students to complete assessments remotely without coming on to campus.

The programme does include practical elements that are delivered in our paramedic simulation centre. These will run as planned in 2020/21 with appropriate social distancing measures in place.  There is a possibility that government advice on social distancing may change. If that is the case, we will endeavour to delay practical components of the programme to a subsequent semester (or year) to protect the safety of students.

Placement providers will continue to offer placements as they have in the previous years. Their capacity to offer placements may change if, in the event of a further outbreak of Covid-19, delivering care to affected patients becomes the overriding priority. For continuing students, it may be possible to delay placements to the next academic year to protect their safety. However, there is a possibility that graduation for some final year students may be delayed until they are able to complete all placements.

We do not expect students to incur any extra costs over and above those that we have advertised on the course page.

As a result of our courses beginning with the majority of teaching online, you will need a personal laptop or computer and access to the internet to participate in online lectures. Information is available on recommended device specification. If you are worried you might struggle to meet these requirements, you should email IThardship@sgul.ac.uk so we can look at support options for you.

Personal protective equipment (PPE) will be provided for you if needed.

We do not expect students to incur any extra costs over and above the normal level, as previously advertised on the course page.

Personal protective equipment (PPE) will be provided for you if needed.

We assess the knowledge, skills and attributes of our students in a variety of ways. The methods that we use include formal written examinations, practical examinations and in-course assessments which might include essays, practical write-ups and special study reports, oral presentations and poster presentations. 

We currently expect to deliver all theoretical assessments as planned. Although some assessments are designed to be taken on site, we successfully developed an alternative assessment strategy in 2019/20 to enable students to complete assessments remotely without coming on to campus. For example, formal examinations were taken remotely by students within at a time of their choosing within a window stipulated by us. If the government advice on social distancing changes, we will take this approach again.

Assessments where students are directly observed performing a practical or clinical skill by an examiner can only be delivered on campus. Assessments which test a student’s ability to communicate appropriately with a patient or simulated patient can also only be delivered on site. At this stage, we expect to be able deliver assessments of this kind on site. However, if government advice changes and the campus is closed, we will not be able to deliver these assessments as planned. In that case, it might be possible to have alternative online assessments in some instances, or it may be necessary to delay these assessments to the next academic year of the course to protect student safety.

Assessments where students are directly observed performing a practical or clinical skill by an examiner can only be delivered on campus. Assessments which test a student’s ability to communicate appropriately with a patient or simulated patient can also only be delivered on site. At this stage, we expect to be able deliver assessments of this kind on site.  However, if government advice changes and the campus is closed, we would not be able to deliver these assessments as planned. In that case, it might be possible to have alternative online assessments in some instances, or it may be necessary to delay these assessments to the next academic year of the course to protect student safety. If that happens, graduation for some final year students may be delayed until you are able to complete all assessments, because we have an obligation to our regulators to confirm that our students have met the clinical and practical outcomes for the programme before they graduate.

The changes that we are making are the consequence of current public health advice, and our capacity to offer alternatives is limited by that advice. If you wish to avoid these changes by deferring your offer please contact admissions@sgul.ac.uk.

We would really encourage all students to work collaboratively with the department to inform us of any changes of personal circumstances or difficulty so that we can support any reasonable adjustments and mitigate any concerns wherever possible.

The changes that we are making are the consequence of current public health advice, and our capacity to offer alternatives is limited by that advice. You will be required to consent to these changes as part of your re-enrolment. If you wish to avoid these changes (e.g. by taking a year out from your studies) please discuss this directly with your course team in the first instance. We remain, as always, focused on the best experience and outcomes for our students.