Senior Paramedic Caroline Hargreaves tells us that collaboration is vital for creating meaningful change in patient care as she carries out her role across Cumbria and Lancashire. Caroline is currently working to build relationships with hospitals, community teams, and regional health bodies across the two counties to improve pathways for patients and ensure they only go to the hospital when necessary. The projects she’s working on include improvements to end-of-life care and utilising appointments at Urgent Treatment Centres.

She says, “It’s important that all organisations understand the demands and pressures that each other is working with. I try to create opportunities to experience this first-hand, allowing colleagues to spend time in other people’s shoes.

“Shared feedback and learning are vital to ensure changes that you make are working, and I also work on a number of development opportunities with ambulance clinicians to make sure colleagues feel supported and understand the new approaches.”

International Paramedics Day takes place every year on July 8 because this marks the anniversary of the birth of Dominique Jean Larrey, the French military doctor who became Napoleon Bonaparte’s chief surgeon of the Grand Armee and the man often referred to as the ‘father of modern-day ambulance services.’

Caroline adds, “I’ve been a paramedic for more than 25 years, and I find the work I do today just as rewarding, and I feel I’m still making an impact on improving the health outcomes of our patients.”

“International Paramedic Days is a nice way to showcase the profession, showing people that it’s not always just about treating people who’ve called for an ambulance, and there’s a lot of work behind the scenes that goes into improving care and finding the most effective ways of treating people.”

Happy International Paramedics Day to all our colleagues at NWAS and around the world!