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We are now part of City St George's, University of London. This website contains information relating to our Tooting campus. Please visit our new website to learn more about what we offer across all our campuses.
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Duration

Three years, full-time

Application Deadline

30 April 2025 (2025 entry)

Location

St George's, University of London

UCAS Code

B781, institution code S49

Start dates

September 2025

Apply via UCAS

Managing life-threatening emergencies, responding to patients experiencing illness, helping people at their most vulnerable – it’s all in a day’s work for the paramedic. Working in a team and with other healthcare professionals, you’ll provide vital care indoors, outdoors, on the road or in the air.

This course is for you if you like working in diverse and unpredictable environments. You’ll learn how to handle life-threatening emergency situation, from cardiac arrest, to traumatic injuries. At the same time, you’ll build extensive knowledge in minor illness, long-term conditions, mental health and social care.

Practical experience from day one

You’ll spend around a third of your time working alongside clinical professionals and their patients to see what it takes to apply theory to practice. When you’re on campus, you’ll learn in our paramedic simulation centre. Here you’ll find immersion rooms, a clinical skills lab and replica ambulances. It’s a safe space where our subject experts will help you explore scenarios and practise on manikins later in your study, professional actors,.

Your mental health matters. We want to create resilient and compassionate paramedics – and that means helping you overcome the challenges you face. As well as support from the teaching team, you can talk to our student wellbeing champions. It’s not an easy career path, but it certainly is one of the most rewarding.

To support your ambition to work in this field, the NHS offer eligible students on this course a £5,000 maintenance grant each year. Read more information about our courses and university services terms and conditions.

This course is officially approved by the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) - the governing body for healthcare professionals and also endorsed by the College of Paramedics. The College of Paramedics is the recognised professional body for all paramedics in the UK, whose role is to promote and develop the paramedic profession across England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

While the St George’s programmes are recognised by many different countries, applicants are advised to check with their own individual national authorities if they wish to practise in their chosen country.

College of Paramedics logo.

Why St George’s

  • Home to experts – this is one of the first courses of its kind in the country taught by experts specialising in a range of areas of paramedic science. Thanks to our reputation, we have great links with local hospitals too.
  • Student support – we put a huge emphasis on student support throughout the three years, with innovative pastoral support, learning support and peer support.
  • Paramedic simulation – learn key clinical skills in home environments, replica ambulances and immersive rooms with the use of manikins and professional role players.

Learn more about studying at St George's

If you're looking to start your studies in 2025 or beyond, sign up for our free intro email series by clicking the button below.

Course info

At the start of the course, we’ll familiarise you with ambulance and paramedic equipment, practising safe assessment and handling of patients. You’ll also learn to measure vital signs and administer immediate life support.

Once you’ve mastered these areas, you’ll look at health, disorder and dysfunction. This will help you better understand, anticipate, direct and provide care to patients. Building a strong knowledge of the body will also be crucial. We’ll cover anatomy and physiological processes alongside other basic sciences such as microbiology.

To help you apply your skills, you’ll spend around half your time on different placements. These will be with the London Ambulance Service (LAS), in hospital wards, theatres, A&E and maternity departments, across all three years of the degree.

Preparing for your career

As you near graduation, we’ll help you get ready to transition from student to fully qualified paramedic. As well as developing communication and leadership skills, you’ll look at alternative referral pathways for stable and unstable chronic conditions to avoid unnecessary hospital admissions.

A key part of your final year is your literature review. This can be on any topic of your choice. Perhaps you’ll analyse certain treatment techniques or methods of diagnosing injury or illness.

“St George's doesn’t just have incredible facilities, the calibre and passion of the teaching staff are also second to none. The majority of the department work as paramedics with a diverse background of specialisms, so they’re all bang up to date on current clinical practice and understand the job that you’re training to do.”

- Eloisa

Paramedic Science BSc

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Students' Union

As a student at St George's you're also automatically a member of our Students' Union, which offers over 120 clubs, societies and community projects.

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Aviation & Space Medicine Society

We provide specialist clinical knowledge of aviation and space medicine, through lectures, forums and tutorials.

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Entry Criteria: 2025 Entry

To be eligible for the Paramedic Science BSc programme, you must meet the requirements outlined under Entry Qualifications, Other Academic Requirements, and Non-academic Requirements below. Citizens of the UK, or those with indefinite leave to remain in the UK, can apply for this course.

Entry Qualifications

With the exception of GCSEs, all qualifications must have been completed within the previous five years, including the year of application.

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Other Academic Requirements

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Non-academic Requirements

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Entry Criteria: 2026 Entry

To be eligible for the Paramedic Science BSc programme, you must meet the requirements outlined under Entry Qualifications, Other Academic Requirements, and Non-academic Requirements below. Citizens of the UK, or those with indefinite leave to remain in the UK, can apply for this course.

Entry Qualifications

With the exception of GCSEs, all qualifications must have been completed within the previous five years, including the year of application.

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Other Academic Requirements

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Non-academic Requirements

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The time on the programme is split between university based learning and clinical placements.

Patient-focused from the outset, your learning is designed to equip you with a range of essential professional skills and competencies, which become progressively more advanced as the course develops. Leadership and medicine management form part of the spiral curriculum embedded in the programme.

In Year 1, you will become familiarised with the safe selection and use of ambulance and paramedic equipment, practising safe assessment and handling of patients, measuring vital signs and administering immediate life support, including defibrillation, in simulated sessions.

You will also be introduced to the essential foundations, gaining a broad understanding of the role and responsibilities of paramedics and the legal and ethical framework underpinning professional practice. You will build a strong foundational knowledge of the anatomy, physiology and physiological processes of the human body and other relevant basic sciences, including microbiology, pharmacology, genetics, growth and development.

In Year 2, you will increase your knowledge of health, disorder and dysfunction so that you can better understand, anticipate, direct and provide appropriate care to patients. This includes the pathophysiology of pain, tumours and infectious or genetic diseases affecting the cardiovascular, respiratory, nervous, musculoskeletal, gastrointestinal, endocrine and renal systems in both children and adults. You will consider problems with drugs in renal and liver diseases, pregnancy, the elderly and children. Medical ethics, law, and the effects of human factors on patient safety are also covered.

Clinical skills development focuses on acute and critical illnesses, such as heart attacks, strokes and diabetic emergencies. This will include advanced analgesia, airway management, advanced vascular access, allowing for the knowledge and understanding required to offer advanced life support to patients suffering from out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OOHCA). You will also spend time assessing, identifying and managing treatment regimens for a range of mental health conditions.

The third and final year aims to help you transition to professional paramedic practice. Skills development focuses on styles of leadership, mentoring, communication, decision making and the adoption of a holistic patient approach involving other healthcare professionals. You will look at alternative referral pathways for stable and unstable chronic conditions to avoid unnecessary hospital admissions. You will also undertake a literature review on a topic of your choice – this could range from analysing certain treatment techniques to methods of diagnosing injury or illness.

You will graduate as an effective, independent paramedic with empathy, sensitivity and a patient-centred approach to practice, able to problem solve, prioritise and adapt to the changing needs and demands of the profession.

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Teaching

We share our site with one of the UK’s largest teaching hospitals, giving you the chance to learn in a busy healthcare environment. Most of our teaching staff have previously worked in occupational therapy roles in a range of specialist areas, so you will learn from academics with real on-the-job experience.

Studying at a smaller, more specialist university means we’ll get to know you and help you reach your potential. You’ll be part of interactive group sessions, and our academics are always on hand if you need extra support.

How our experts teach depends on the course content, but we recognise that our students have different learning styles. On this course, you can expect a diverse range of:

  • Clinical placements
  • Clinical skills sessions
  • Computer-based sessions
  • Guest lectures
  • Group work
  • Lab-based sessions
  • Lectures
  • Online learning
  • Patient interaction
  • Practical workshops
  • Seminars
  • Simulation
  • Tutorials

Assessment

The way we assess your learning will change depending on the module but we use a variety of assessment methods so every student has a chance to show their knowledge and strengths. You can expect a mixture of:

  • A clinical portfolio
  • Case reviews
  • Clinical practice assessments
  • Essays
  • Exams
  • Oral presentations
  • Poster presentations
  • Reports
  • Research projects

To prepare you for the practical challenges you’ll face, we design assessments that reflect real-world scenarios, such as case reviews and research projects.

Your assessments will be formative and summative. This means some won’t count towards your final grade and you’ll have the chance to improve based on our feedback.

Find out more on our programme specifications.

Expertise

You will struggle to find another university with such diverse paramedic science expertise. Our team have experience in everything from critical care and patient transfer to the helicopter emergency medical service (HEMS).

Our team also includes:

  • Simulation experts
  • Major incident expertise
  • A Red Cross clinical lead
  • Mental health practitioner
  • Urgent care and primary care specialists
  • Anaesthetists
  • Intensivists
  • An educational technologist
  • A senior technician
  • An anatomist

You can also expect guest lectures from:

  • Consultant paediatricians
  • Gynaecologists
  • Doctors
  • Midwives
  • Paramedic facilitators from LAS and SECAmb (South East Coast Ambulance Service)
  • Ethics, consent, mental health and end-of-life experts

As well as placements, we also run away-days with other emergency services such as Transport for London, London Fire Brigade and the Metropolitan Police. You’ll see how real-life accident and crime scenes are dealt with first hand, from patient extraction from crashed vehicles to a mass casualty incident on the underground.

Placements

Half of your time will be spent on placements in diverse clinical settings. Not only with London Ambulance Service, which is the UK’s busiest ambulance service, but also in hospital departments, including accident and emergency, theatre and maternity. We also offer community placements which can include GP surgeries and mental health units.

Placement

The variety and volume of clinical placement opportunities we offer is one of the highlights of our course. You will sample professional life in a range of ambulance and hospital clinical settings, which includes hospital wards, theatres, GP surgeries, walk-in centres, minor injuries units, maternity, community nursing, mental health and palliative care teams. You will spend approximately 10 weeks each year on placement with the LAS.

Interspersed throughout the three years, these elements tend to be in blocks, and you will be required to attend shifts alongside your Practice Educator’s working pattern, encompassing both day and night shift patterns. On placement, you are supervised by experienced clinicians and trained mentors.

The structure of your placement is as follows:

  • Year 1 placements are mainly ambulance-based with a short placement on an Hospital unit/ward.
  • Year 2 placements go into theatres, maternity, coronary care unit (CCU) and A&E, (one-week each) plus 10 weeks of ambulance placement.
  • Year 3 placements consist of four weeks of community, mental health placement and 10 weeks of ambulance placement.

Practice placement locations include:

  • London Ambulance Service (LAS), South West London
  • Epsom and St Helier NHS Trust, Carshalton, Surrey
  • Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, London
  • Kingston Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Kingston, Surrey
  • St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, London
  • Croydon University Hospital, Croydon Health Services NHS Trust, Surrey.

*This list is subject to change.

There is a huge demand for paramedics, not just here in the UK, but all over the world. Because our degree is approved by the HCPC, you’ll be eligible to apply for registration as a paramedic.

By the end of this course, you’ll be able to confidently assess, treat and transport sick and injured people and respond to healthcare needs in an emergency. You’ll be able to work independently and show important qualities like empathy.

Employers will see your ability to problem solve, prioritise and adapt to the changing needs and demands of the profession. You’ll be ready for roles in a range of areas including:

  • Emergency control centre
  • General practice
  • Air medical service
  • 111 and minor injury units
  • NHS ambulances
  • A&E and walk-in centres
  • Police custody suites and prisons
  • Oil rigs
  • Rapid response units
  • Prisons

Paramedic careers are hugely rewarding and form an integral part of the emergency healthcare workforce. However, you may choose to further your study with postgraduate education, move into a role where you’re teaching others or carry out research.

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Careers support for new graduates

Graduates from St George’s have access to support from the careers service for two years after graduation.

Facilities

St George’s is the only UK university based on a hospital site, St George’s Hospital, which is where the Channel 4 television series 24 hours in A&E is filmed. We offer a unique opportunity to study and work alongside the full range of clinical professionals and their patients. Based in the thriving multi-cultural hub of Tooting in South West London, our location has the added advantage of being just a short tube ride from Central London and all the city lifestyle has to offer.

We also have a range of specialist paramedic facilities to support your learning, listed below.

Paramedic simulation centre

Complete with two fully-fitted rear sections of an ambulance, three purpose-built domicile rooms, a skills lab and an immersion room capable of 270° projections, these spaces can be adapted to fit any required environment or scenario. Using the facilities to simulate real-life situations helps you build confidence, flexibility and resilience. 

We also have a range of specialist health and academic facilities to support your learning, listed below.

Anatomy suite 

The anatomy suite is where present and future healthcare professionals and scientists in the hospital and University learn or expand on their anatomy knowledge directly from the human body, through access to high quality anatomy resources. These include plastinated (preserved) specimens, osteological materials, anatomical models and digital/imaging resources such as Anatomage tables and Complete Anatomy.

Pathology museum

Our on-site museum houses a collection of over 2,000 pathological specimens, including display specimens exhibiting diseases from lung cancer to tuberculosis. This space is used for small group tutorials by students across all of our courses as an educational tool to help you understand the mechanisms of disease. 

Library and learning technology

Our modern health sciences library offers a wide range of books, e-books, academic journals and other resources to support you. You will also have access to online resources, such as the Canvas virtual learning environment

and our Hunter discovery service to help you find the information you need. The library is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and comprises silent, quiet and group learning areas, as well as four group discussion rooms. 

IT facilities

We have five computer suites housing 260 workstations. Three of these suites are accessible 24 hours a day. It’s easy to find a free space with our handy real-time computer locator. We also have 75 self-service laptops available. Free Wi-Fi covers the whole campus, including all accommodation. You can use these resources to access your course materials, discussion boards and feedback through Canvas.

Student support

Whether you are heading off to university straight from school or college, or returning to education as a mature student, we want to ensure your experience is positive from the outset. At St George’s, you’ll be welcomed by a multicultural student and staff body of different ages, ethnicities, nationalities and backgrounds, all with one thing in common – an interest in healthcare, science and medicine.

Students frequently tell us they greatly appreciate the diversity of our student and staff body, as well as the patients who access healthcare services in the borough of Tooting. We attract a substantial number of ‘mature’ students, aged 21 or over when they start; many have family and caring responsibilities.

We offer a full range of academic support and student services across all institutes, departments and faculties, some of which are listed below. We believe we offer a transformative educational experience underpinned by cooperation and collaboration between staff and students. Our innovative Student-Staff Partnership Grants (SSPGs), for example, provide funding for small projects led jointly by students and staff.

Wellbeing

The Department of Paramedic Science prides itself on our unique model of pastoral and learning support, provided by two dedicated members of staff. The Department puts a huge emphasis on promoting positive wellbeing and provides tools and strategies for looking after yourself when undertaking your study as a future health care professional. We champion our culture of support within our learning community and have a peer support model with our student paramedic Blue Light Champions.

Personal tutor

You will be allocated a personal tutor at the beginning of the programme – someone with whom you can have regular contact, who you ask questions and discuss problems with, both academic and personal. The main purpose of a personal tutor is to monitor your progress, pick up and help you resolve any problems, whether academic or welfare related. Even if they do not have the answer, they will point you in the right direction towards the best people to deal with specific problems.

Induction programme

Within your first week at St George’s, you’ll take part in an induction programme to help with your orientation and introduce you to various study skills, including interprofessional learning and use of the Dissecting Room. Additional sessions provide advice and guidance about the Registry, Students’ Union, personal tutor system, safety, occupational health and sexual health awareness.

Clinical placement support

We have service level agreements with most placement sites and lecturers act as clinical placement co-ordinators. They work closely with placement sites to ensure all students receive high quality training and mentoring whilst on clinical placements, and will visit students during placements to support and monitor progress.

Academic staff support

You’ll have access to your lecturers, usually by arrangement via email.

Mums and dads scheme  

‘Mums and dads’ is a buddy scheme organised by the Students’ Union. Every fresher (first year student) has the choice of being assigned a ‘parent’ from the year above in their respective course. The returning student then acts as a ‘go to’ for advice about courses and university life, providing an additional support system during your first year, both academically and socially. They have been in your position and know the struggles of starting university; they also know all of the best pubs, clubs, restaurants, gyms and will help introduce you to your new St George’s family.  

Student Life Centre

Our Student Centre team can help you with every aspect of student life: finances, accommodation, exams and assessment, academic procedures, admissions, international queries, disability and wellbeing, even finding your way around – whatever it takes to make you feel at home. Each course has a designated contact within the student centre to link to and your personal tutor can signpost you to relevant support, including a confidential counselling service. 

Careers service

Our careers service works to support current students and recent graduates to find and maintain the career of their dreams. We work with careers tutors from each course area to ensure that careers activities specific to your programmes and future profession come to you. Each year, primarily for second and third-year students, we hold an annual radiography careers fair, hosted online in 2020, to which we invite various NHS trusts to come and showcase their organisations.

Apply for this course through UCAS (the University and College Admissions Service) by 30 April 2025 (for 2025 entry).

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Duration

Three years, full-time

Application Deadline

30 April 2025 (2025 entry)

UCAS Code

B781, institution code S49

Apply via UCAS
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