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SWANSEA: Elite 999 paramedics now training with the Army — at the city’s Morfa reserve centre

Wales’ most highly trained 999 paramedics are now learning their craft alongside the Army — at a Swansea barracks.

The Welsh Ambulance Service has teamed up with the 203 (Welsh) Multi-Role Medical Regiment to train new recruits to its Cymru High Acuity Response Unit, known as CHARU.

CHARU paramedics carry enhanced skills and are sent to the most urgent 999 calls — cardiac arrests, road traffic collisions and major trauma.

The first course under the partnership ran on 20 May at the Army Reserve centre in Swansea, at the regiment’s Morfa detachment.

The tie-up solves a practical problem: the training is so specialist that only a small number of sites in Wales are suitable, and demand for venues has been outstripping supply.

The unit was created in 2022 and has trained more than 150 staff since.

The arrangement cuts both ways. CHARU equipment that would otherwise sit unused between courses is now being put to work by the regiment’s medics — while ambulance crews get access to realistic military training environments.

The Army’s medics bring trauma experience from operational deployments, and ambulance staff share their own front-line expertise, such as managing cardiac arrests.

Andy Swinburn, the service’s executive director of paramedicine, said: “This is an excellent example of working together across different organisations to pool resources and use them effectively.

“We are excited to see what enhancements this can bring to both organisations to improve the care we offer to the sickest patients.”

WO1 James, of 203 (Welsh) Multi-Role Medical Regiment, said: “Our Combat Medical Technicians, Paramedics and Ambulance Practitioner’s benefit enormously from training alongside colleagues from the Welsh Ambulance Service, whilst we are equally proud to share the lessons our military medics have learned from operational deployments.”

He said the new facility at the Morfa detachment reflected “a shared commitment to excellence, innovation and continuous professional development”, keeping both military and civilian clinicians at the forefront of emergency care.

The partnership is a bright spot in a difficult year for the service’s workforce pipeline — 82 newly qualified paramedics, most trained in Swansea, were left without posts this summer, prompting an emergency Welsh Government summit.

And the bond between the military and the ambulance service runs deep: soldiers deployed as ambulance drivers during the Covid pandemic, and Paula Jeffery — honoured by the King last month as Wales’ first female consultant paramedic — began her career in the Army’s nursing corps.

For the newest CHARU recruits, the drill hall doors at Morfa are now part of the journey to Wales’ most serious emergencies.

Related stories from Swansea Bay News

Welsh Government to hold emergency summit after 82 newly qualified paramedics left with no posts
The workforce crisis facing the ambulance service’s next generation.

Nearly £10m of public money spent training paramedics now told to look for work abroad
Swansea University students advised to seek posts as far away as Canada and Australia.

King’s medal for the Welsh Ambulance Service trailblazer — Wales’ first female Consultant Paramedic
Paula Jeffery’s four-decade journey from Army nursing corps to the top of her profession.