UKQAS

Ditto ++

And be careful with some of the mines companies who provide medic cover. Some aussie guys in my region went to one staffed and managed by ex QAS and have lots of horror stories about the company being worse than QAS!

garyp

I felt exactly the same and that was the reason i returned to UK last year. I enjoyed OZ but the job made me pack my bags after 8 months.
I knew and was prepared to be deskilled before i went as wasnt really bothered was looking forward to the lifestyle and escaping UK. The ICP,s do treat you like a nobody and QAS dont really respect us. The ACP,s who have come through the system of QAS and dont know any different cant wait to call for ICP back up and have there arses wiped.
I thought it was coz it was where i was working in the Brisbane suburbs and did consider going elsewhere but didnt want to mess the kids around again by moving and jumped ship. what they need to realise is UK paramedics have no one to rely on and do it all theirselves and they should respect our experience.
saying all that i am missing being there compared to the job back in the UK and the deoressing weather.

Car 115

Hey Miss Betty,

Thanks heaps for the heads-up. I can totally understand where you're coming from. I just spoke with QAS recruitment the other day and was told to apply for an ICP position but I'm not going to be employed as an ICP and yes, I got the impression, that they really don't want people from outside QAS applying for ICP positions.

So based on what you're saying Miss Betty, NSW may be a better option for UK ICPs looking to come out to Australia. There are quite a few (it would seem to me) ICPs who have RPL'd here in NSW and I think they are well regarded.

Thanks again.

MissBetty

Worse than the QAS??? Surely sir you jest? Does such a thing exist?!!! Lol!!!! No all joking aside my honest opinion is if you want to keep yr skills and have a career the QAS may not be for you but you are burnt out/fed up and looking to semi retire with less skills and just want a great lifestyle then you'll be fine. I guess people are just looking for different things in life, I just wish I'd been more prepared before I came here and knew what I was letting myself in for. Out of 26 people on my course nearly two thirds have left, most within the first year. The main reasons they give is that they hated working for the QAS, hated being spoken to like dirt by the ICP's and they missed their families. It's not for everyone but f you don't try you'll never know will you?! I have no regrets but I'm looking forward to waving the QAS bye bye for good!!!

Lingyai

I agree with the other responses, the QAS is not a good organisation to work for, they make my former employers look good, unions work against what's best for staff and there are to many chief all trying to make their own little empires but I would say that there biggest problem is they just aren't busy enough (weird I know) but it gives them to much time for navel gazing and referring back to my earlier comment "to many chiefs" all have time to make up email and dictats to justify their existence. I work at a busy station but the other day I did 3 jobs and that's not that unusual. It can be busy but it's nothing compared to life in the uk.

This leads on to exposure to jobs and knowledge, give them their credit the knowledge of an QAS para is good the training is really in depth they can describe drugs down to the molecular level, I sit in the mess room and listen to them and it makes you feel pretty insecure, but if you ask them how many MI's/ births/ big trauma jobs they've been to it's not much, and that goes for the ICP's, in the UK I probably went to a MI every month, out here I'm pushed to think of one. That's not to say you won't be busy but it's all self inflicted such as ramping at hospital or they send 3 ambulances to one job which doesn't require it. If you do go to a big job here every man and his dog rushs to go to it. And they don't leave you to it, you'll even get comms ringing you up giving advice when you're trying to deal with it.

It all goes back to my earlier comment "they just aren't busy enough" they all want to jump on the big jobs. They rely on knowledge out here, where as in the UK we rely on experience, and if you can't recite the complete drug protocol word for word they aren't interested.

They like to think they are advanced but they are only now going over to protocols/ guidelines that the uk was doing 2 yrs ago. The QAS is the MD little toy set and if he doesn't like it the QAS don't do it.

As to challenging, you can do it there has been a few that have but on my induction we had 3 different people stand in front of us an say how bad uk paramedic are and we should just wind our necks in so that kind of put me of and to be honest if I wanted to do it I'd have to really hit the books because knowledge is everything out here experience is nothing. They also seem to forget that the job of an ambulance is to get sick people to hospital and over analyse everything.

Financially I think I'm better off here, I have a 3 bed house 10 mins from the beach, in the uk I have a 1 bed flat. You can make money out here but to do that it'ws getting harder and harder. I'm looking to get out, there is just and underlying feeling vulnerability in QAS, I'd rather work for a private company and get paid a lot more.

But let's be honest no one comes here for the work, it's the lifestyle which is great as long as you don't mind snakes, floods, jelly fish, sharks, cyclones, remember Qld is Australia more disaster struck state.

Anyway must go if anyone has any info on companies looking for paramedic's let me know, don't be put off by what I say just be aware.

As reference I've been out here 2 yrs now and worked in a number of stns it's the same all over the QAS

Lingyai

It's interesting that all us poms say the same thing, must be why they call us whinging poms

MissBetty

Oh you are welcome! I just wish I'd know what I was letting myself in for 4 years ago!!! They do change the goal posts tho. I have a friend who works in Cairns and they are very short of ICP's there so are more keen to have you challenge. There they like you to do 18 months as an ACP then challenge - quite a few people have done it and got thru. Brisbane has heaps of ICP's so it far more difficult. They can't bear the thought outsiders might have anything to offer and they call themselves the 'best ambulance service in the world' which is laughable really! In Brisbane they call the ICP's the 'God Squad' lol lol!!!! Hope this helps??? Good luck with whatever you decide :0)

MissBetty

You know I totally agree with everything you said - thanks for posting it's just nice to know it's not me it IS them lol! If yr looking to get out maybe it might be worth you looking at mines or oil rigs depending on what yr situation is? I know two guys who work QAS casual and work for Immediate Assistance and ER24. Rig jobs etc can be found on Remote Medic Jobs and Paramedics Australasia they like you to have cert IV in training plus BOSIET with HUET. It's expensive but the money is good it's worth the investment in my opinion. Anyways hope this helps you and yes, it's the same every region you go to lol!!!

Lingyai

NSW vs QLD isn't as simple as who will let you do more, if you want to be a paramedic and do "stuff" then stay in the uk, if you want a better quality of life them go to Australia but accept you're probably going into early retirement, but it depends on you, one uk para I know has challenged successfully and is shortly going to be working as a heli para, so for her it has really worked out. Back to my point quality of life, look at house prices in NSW in places they are similar to uk prices and you can live in a nondescript housing estate about 2m from neighbours in qld you can get somewhere nears the city/beach, having said that SE Qld is getting comparable with NSW, but head N and it's cheaper and none of the hassle of traffic, I love it when they talk about traffic over here, Brisbane can get busy but never that bad.

What I'm trying to say is that it's not just about what you can do there's more to your decision than that, depends on your view of paramedic, do we really make a difference, when you're going to hurty finger itchy eye, "spiked" drink does it matter if the MD will let you do a NCD or ETT, and do you mind if when you're at the hurty finger the Aussie is calling the icp for backup. Good luck with your decisions.

Having said all this there is a programme on at the moment "recruit paramedic" following NSW student paramedic and seeing the on road staff they do seem more akin to my style, but there are lots heading to QLD.

And another thing!!!! Check on the visa NSW give you, the QAS one was good and youre not tied to them, not a major factor but you may want to consider it.

MissBetty

Actually it doesn't depend on you as I have found out to my cost. I was a heli medic in the UK and before that the military but I was fobbed off constantly here when trying to challenge even tho I had 2 ICP's (one a CSO) backing me and another guy from the UK. It got to the point when they were like "Who the hell did you guys upset?" Hmmmmm well its obviously not a good idea to stand up for yourself at your induction and tell those who are slating the UK medics how wrong they are!!!! I have always found with the QAS its if your face fits, mine clearly doesnt!

As for lifestyle well yes, Australia does have a lot to offer, 2 years ago when I lived on the coast I loved it. Surfing everyday and enjoying the sunshine but I took heaps of time off work sick (which is not like me) as I was so miserable at work! I have travelled the world extensively and I grew up in Australia (ten pound pom parents) but after 4 years I actually find it quite boring - lovely though the sunshine is! Maybe people with kids who have come from horrible parts of the UK would settle here ok as it has to be a better choice for their families I would think.

I have enjoyed my time in Australia though, I've made some great friends and had some good times. I will be giving up a 3 bed house with a pool for a 2 bed terrace house but I think its worth it to be near my family and to enjoying being back at work again. I am nearing the end of a 2 year term transfer and I don't want to return to my old station. If I stay out bush I get to work alone, do decent work and not put up with crap but its 7 hours drive to the next town on days off for movies/pizza/shopping etc. If I go back its sunshine/beaches etc but back to ramping/rude nurses/annoying students and fighting with ICP's and neither option is appealing!!! I think it really depends on the individual and what you are looking for. me? i still want a career, with the QAS all i have is a job and that is not enough for me!

MissBetty

How did you find it settling back in with yr job? Everyone I know who went back said their Trusts were ok but I have been gone for 4 years now, have kept up my HPC reg though thank God! Yeah the whole screaming for ICP back up on every job is soooooo annoying, sometimes you are just like can't these people think for themselves FFS?! I have just found working for the QAS completely and utterly demoralising and it has made me appreciate what I had before so I can take something positive away with me lol!

Lingyai

Just bear in mind they've been on strike recently in the uk and from where I was there is a lot of discontent. I agree with the rural stuff but I think where I am they are such control freaks they don't even leave you when you're remote.

John_R

I have been her now for just over 3 years, love my new life style and life in general. I knew working for QAS would mean losing my clinical freedom and skills but after 20 years as a para I just treat the job as pre retirement employment. The job is simple, no thinking, and 99% of pt walk on and off the ambo.

I get frustrated with QAS just like everyone else, and when someone tries to give me a hard time, I just simply walk up to them, toe to toe and tell them to get ****ed.

I love reminding students and ACP's alike, 3 years of studying at diploma and degree level and to be called a paramedic but on an international scale their hard slog of studying is not recognised as paramedics.

The MD is a control freak, there is no clinical freedom what so ever, whether ACP or ICP, it's all protocol driven, from drugs to procedures, so it's very robotic in regards to patient management. Quality job exposure is very rare, they have ample ambo's on road and policy is everyone goes to hospital. But the job is secure, reliable salary giving you a good life style. I own a 4 bedroom detached house, double garage, pool and spa, 4x4 ute, off road camper trailer and next year my own boat.

I have palm tree's in my garden, and coconut tree's along the coast where I regulary break them open and have a feed on the beach with the kids.

Come here for a quality life for you and your family and you'll love it, don't come here for the job, UK management maybe crap but the clinical freedom and flexability you have there will not be found over here. Trust me, the UK is probably the best place in the world to be a para, I've been a para in Germany, UK, and now QLD.

Today is 34c, 94% humidty and my pool is 33c

John

MissBetty

Hey John

I really enjoyed reading your post - made me laugh esp the bit about going toe to toe with Aussie medics as I have done that SO many times myself lol!

When I do overtime in the nearest town to here it always cracks me up to hear the uni bods discussing how they are going to "get HPC registration and work in the UK". as if! One of them in particular seems quite happy to interrupt me on a regular basis when dealing with a hurty knee or UTI but when it comes to some serious jobs I have done recently - GCS3 massive head trauma and an entrapment and (gasp!) no ICP available - he has stood there like a rabbit caught in the headlights and I have had to tell him exactly what I need him to do - sigh! I have told them they will NOT get UK reg unless they are ICP's but, as per usual, they are so arrogant they don't believe me!

Sounds like you have a nice lifestyle anyways, I really like Townsville its a lovely town, had many a good weekend there I am just going to make the most of my last few months here, save some money and enjoy the pool while I still have it! Cheers!

garyp

i was ok as took a career break though i did go back to a different station but carried on where i left and kept up HPC. I also found a few arrogant but also met some nice people. They semed to have a big hangup about giving drugs bearing in mind they are so qualified. Never forget had a heroin OD and ICP would not give narcan and made job harder by trying to intubate and just manage airway.had to carry pt downstairs from bathroom on a spinal board. asked after job why he wouldnt give as i wanted to and he said MD scrutines everything and he had a big hang up wth narcan.
Grass no greener here but at least you are appreciated and can think for yourself and dont have an ICP or a student ICP telling you what to do.like the student ICP asking why i never cannulted a 2 year old with burns and gave morphine IV as i gave IM before they arrived. He spent another 20 mins at side of road as we had to pull over enroute and meet them and I watched him fail miserably but there was no apoligy from him. could have punched him off the ambulance at the time as some try to belittle you in front of others. some icp,s wont even go out of there way to talk to you and you not in the click.
it is like semi retirement though and i do miss some aspects but you felt you was one job away from sack though.