Lights and Sirens: How Coronial Inquests Can Highlight Challenges in Paramedic Regulation

Paramedics provide emergency and community health services to diagnose, treat, transport and provide advice to patients. However, current regulatory structures do not adequately protect the public from the potential for paramedics to cause harm to their patients. Paramedic employers regulate the paramedic industry rather than the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme used for other equivalent registered health practitioners in Australia. A number of coronial inquests have considered the conduct of paramedics and highlight the challenges of the current paramedic regulation in protecting the public from risk.