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Get Your Ambulance Drivers Trained To Correct Standards!
“Can you do us a one-day blue light driving course?” is a familiar request from within the private ambulance and event medical sector. “Our guys know how to drive - they just need the blue light ticket”.
Well like all good things in life, it ain’t that simple, and anyone who has completed the IHCD D1/D2 Ambulance Driver Training course will understand why.
There are a number of organisations offering advanced generic driver training, and as good as the training may be (and some of it is fine), do these courses relate specifically to ambulance driving standards at either PTS or A&E front-line level? The IHCD driver training course is well established and is based on the police “Roadcraft” system of driving, and has been developed as ambulance staff training to national proficiency levels.
NHS Ambulance Service Trusts were required to meet the requirements of the Care Quality Commission (CQC) by April of this year. The registration for CQC for independent ambulance services will commence in October of this year, and compliance required thereafter. Within the CQC requirement is that staff development training is fit for purpose. The IHCD course is the “industry standard” used by all NHS Ambulance Service Trusts, and it is this standard that the private sector should attain. Some of the better independent ambulance services have recognised this and are already getting their drivers trained. Furthermore in any Court case, the measurable driving standard for ambulance drivers would be taken to be that of the NHS Ambulance Services, i.e. the IHCD D1/D2 national qualification. Driving qualifications not meeting this standard could present a problem.
The Lifeskills Medical, Emergency Medical Services Training Centre based in Stafford runs regular IHCD D1/D2 driver training courses, and has its own full-time IHCD D1/D2 driving instructors operating modern driver training dedicated vehicles. The latest member of the fleet is a new Mercedes Sprinter currently being converted by MacNeillie & Sons, in Walsall.
Ambulance driver training is not about speed – it is about progressive driving with safety being paramount at all times, and unlike police vehicles or fire appliances, ambulance drivers have to take into consideration that in the back of the ambulance there may well be a paramedic or technician working on a patient whilst the vehicle is travelling. The IHCD D1 course is five days followed by a further 10 days for the D2 course. The complete course ensures that the driver has a high standard of driving ability focusing on the practical application and also the physiological, psychological, and attitudinal aspects of driving practices. Drivers are taught to recognise their own limitations and the vehicle characteristics and to stay within safe limits.
The emergency driving element (commonly called “blue-light” driving), is built into the latter stages of the course and is not simulated. The driver and instructor know that this is a training exercise, but of course the public don’t – what they see is an emergency vehicle driving with blue-lights and sirens on, and their reactions are real – and sometimes unpredictable. The ambulance driver needs that D1 and D2 training and the skills increase that the course develops, In order to deal with such situations and manoeuvre safely, smoothly and precisely, and still make progress. Furthermore, they need to know what they can legally do, and what they can’t do by way of driving exemptions.
As NHS Ambulance Service Trusts are turning more to independent ambulance provision, they are insisting that the independent drivers hold equivalent qualifications in order to meet the CQC requirements. In some cases there may be allowance of accreditation of prior learning (APL) for part of the IHCD D1/D2 course, but this has to “map” very closely the IHCD course and proof by way of documented portfolios clearly showing the learning outcomes and standard attained is required. The final decision regarding APL rests with IHCD.
Drivers who have completed the IHCD D1/D2 through Lifeskills Medical will tell you that they now understand why just a one day blue-light course without the full D1/D2 course is a dangerous thing to do as it puts not only the drivers life at risk, but those they are responsible for, as well as the lives of the public.
Get your drivers trained to correct standards – call Lifeskills Medical for professional advice and professional IHCD D1/D2 driver training.
Lifeskills Medical: 0844 700 0101
Email: info@lifeskillsmedical.com
