The 'seesaw balance of frustration and contentment'. Retention in the world of frontline ambulance staff with Carl Betts

In this conversation I talk with Carl Betts about his reflections
on paramedic retention in contemporary practice. Carl is a
paramedic and quality improvement lead based in Sheffield working
for the ambulance service. He has been a paramedic for 10 years
and also has a 10-year extensive history of expeditions across
the globe.  We examine this article, Carl’s motivations for
writing it, and pull out some of the salient learning points from
his reflection in this interview. We examine some of the
metaphorical warning lights that Carl describes (demand,
resourcing, external management pressure), the spill over of GP
work, e-consult and exponential rise of primary care. We also
examine current hospital handover times, the central pivot and
reason for staying in the role (patients) & the frustration
seesaw that clinicians find themselves on. We also explore what
the ‘outs’ and opportunities there are at the moment for
paramedics, we also look at mental burnout and how should things
change to avoid frustration and burn out, and finally a seminal
case in reference to the conversation from Carl's
experience. 


The reflection can be found here:


https://wordpress.com/page/prehospitalcarepodcast335905859.wordpress.com/3


The rotational paramedic proposals can be found here:


https://www.hee.nhs.uk/our-work/paramedics/rotating-paramedics


https://www.hee.nhs.uk/sites/default/files/documents/Feasability%20Study%20of%20the%20Rotating%20Paramedics%20Pilot%20-%20Final.pdf





The future proposals from AACE can be found here:


http://aace.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Ambulance-2020-and-beyond-the-AACE-vision.pdf





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