The Prince of Wales has paid tribute to the nation’s paramedics working in “highly stressful and often distressing circumstances” as he became patron of their professional body.
William described the workforce as the “Swiss Army Knife” of frontline healthcare, when he addressed the College of Paramedics’ inaugural emergency and critical care conference, held in Birmingham.
He told the paramedics from across the country: “Saving lives is not the only challenge you face. In your role, you are there for people in the most critical and emotional moments, having to display care and skill in highly stressful and often distressing circumstances.
“Working alongside you in Wales and East Anglia, I know the team effort that is required to provide emergency health care, but I also know that at the beginning it is sometimes a lone paramedic – in a car, on a bike, in a helicopter, in an ambulance, on foot.
“Your ability to calm the patient, to listen to their fears, to reassure them that help has arrived, is as important as the subsequent medical intervention.”
William is a former air ambulance helicopter pilot, having served for three years with the RAF Search and Rescue Force, flying rescue missions from RAF Valley in Anglesey, north Wales, from the autumn of 2010.
The heir to the throne later joined the East Anglian Air Ambulance, responding to call-outs for two years before stepping down in July 2017 to focus on his royal duties.
Before his speech, he met a number of conference speakers and attending paramedics including an old colleague from RAF Valley, Ed Griffiths, who was a winchman on rescue missions with the prince before joining HM Coastguard as a winch-paramedic.
He said later: “I worked two years with him, I had a great time.
“It was a pleasure, honour and privilege to serve with him and to have life experiences I wouldn’t have got, had I not worked with him.”
And when he gave his talk about the pressures faced by Coastguard crews, Mr Griffiths joked about pilots and, as William looked on, quipped “it’s not as difficult as some people make it look”.
William also warned in his speech about the pressures of the job that could lead to “burnout and a significant impact on your mental well-being” and stressed “it is vital that you are also there for yourselves and for each other”.
