Evening all,
I have just been attested at Abingdon with 7 Rifles. Does anyone have any advice on becoming a combat medic, ie how long does it take to qualify ? Are there entry requirements ? Also would the skills gained be recognised by the NHS in any way if I wanted to become a paramedic. All advice welcome.
Cheers,
Matthew

Originally Posted by Matthew74

Evening all,
I have just been attested at Abingdon with 7 Rifles. Does anyone have any advice on becoming a combat medic, ie how long does it take to qualify ? Are there entry requirements ? Also would the skills gained be recognised by the NHS in any way if I wanted to become a paramedic. All advice welcome.
Cheers,
Matthew

That's like joining DHL with aspirations of being a pastry chef.

My advice: Join as an inf soldier. Learn that trade and add the patrol medic stuff. Then reconsider your options.

Or join a med unit.

I joined as a rifleman in the infantry. I was carefully selected to be a medic as no one else wanted to do it and because they said I qualified because I wear glasses. I'm now in a med unit & work full time as a health professional in the NHS.

The army quals aren't directly transferrable but I was streets ahead of the other students on my civvy course due to the med training received by the army. My opportunity to get the place on the civvy course came through army contacts. My TA money helped fund me through uni.

I have heard that CMTs in non med units will be binned. This is because you cannot get regular med training outside of that environment.

Paramedic is a 3 year degree course. CMT (V)is 3 x 2 week courses. You can get them all done in about 3 or 4 years if you want. Or less if you have big tits and low moral standards.

I'll try to answer other questions if you want but in a non official capacity. Speak to your company medic. That's the spotty weirdo asleep in the ambulance on range days.

Good luck.

Thanks for the advise Mr Snakey I will keep going in the infantry and am looking forward to phase 1. I want to get on a two week condensed phase 1 in March, I'm fit enough, what else should I do to prepare ?

There are huge clinical governance issues with TA CMTs in non-medical units because, as you say, they get little medical training. It's amazing how infantry units think they can just make anyone a CMT. CMT quals regular and TA are not externally recognized. Don't forget, 90% of a CMT's work is primary care (DNBI - Disease non-battlefield injury), preventative health, and a degree of environmental health. Eveyone thinks trauma is sexy and they train for it at the expense of everything else but trauma management is didactic and actually straightforward on the battlefield.

You may be better off seeing if there is a Medical Regiment or Squadron in your area (not a field hospital) who will be interested in CMTs.

paramedic in civvie strasse is now a degree uni course. Not sure if the Army CMT course could be APL'd across? In which case you may only need to do 2yrs.
Could try OU. But there maybe difficulty in placements and support.

In our Amb NHS Trust there are so many applicants wanting to join they're having to raise the bar with secondary school academia requirements on the application.

Hi, can anyone tell me how often the intakes of cmt's are usually? I'm currently thinking of this as my first choice and am wondering what sort of timescale I am looking at, I currently have my appointment booked at my local doctor for medical forms, I have a high level of fitness and got 65 on my barb test (just to give you a little background of me). Thanks for any help.