The industry today: workplaces, job opportunities and future
Who employs, and what does the demand look like
When someone becomes acutely ill or is injured, the paramedic is often the first health professional they meet. This makes the profession an indispensable part of the health service—and it also shapes how the industry is built and where the jobs are.
§Who employs ambulance personnel
Responsibility for the pre-hospital response lies with the regions. In practice, the task is solved partly by the regions' own pre-hospital units, partly by private rescue companies that win the task through public procurement. As an ambulance attendant, you can therefore be employed either directly in a region or by a private operator that operates for the region.
- 01The regions' own pre-hospital units.
- 02Private rescue companies that perform tasks for the regions.
- 03The workplace is the ambulance but also the acute care area broadly speaking.
§Job opportunities for newly trained
Because you are employed during the entire main course, you already have a firm foothold in a company when you are finished. Many newly trained therefore continue in a job with the employer they were trained with. This makes the transition from apprentice to skilled worker more direct than in many other trades.
§An ageing population and a busy emergency service...
The need for emergency help does not disappear — on the contrary. With more elderly and more people with chronic diseases there is ongoing pressure on emergency care. This suggests that the profession will continue to be in demand.
§The craft's future
The pre-hospital field is developing: the treatment providers get more competencies the equipment becomes more advanced and the interaction with acute reception and doctor cars becomes closer. The trend is that a larger part of treatment begins already in the ambulance before the patient reaches the hospital.
At the same time technology such as video calls to doctors better data equipment and digital record-keeping play a growing role. For you it means that the trade will require you to learn continuously — but also that it becomes more professionally interesting.
“The ambulance is no longer just transport to the hospital. It is the beginning of treatment.”