Looking for Paramedic ECP jobs

Hi there, please forgive me if this has been covered in another thread and forgive the length!

My other half is an Emergency Care Practitioner (paramedic practitioner is another name) with a DIP(he) and Bsc (HONS) in Paramedic Practice he is also an eligible New Zealander so no visa issues (only needed for me!) and in the UK he works in primary care as a locum alongside GP's and ANP's, he is injury and illness trained, xray interpretation, wound closure including suture, manipulation, ring blocks/haematoma blocks, plastering, primary care medication, plus the usual pre-hospital emergency care procedures and drugs including intubation. We are moving to Cairns QLD this year hopefully December, and he hopes to continue working as an ECP in Aus but seem to be getting conflicting advice as far as where, what and how Paramedics work in Aus.

1. The lack of registration appears to be a real issue regarding parity with other health professionals, and unless you are AHPRA registered they won't look at you.

2. The ECP role doesn't seem to exist anywhere yet the same qualifications are asked for within nursing advertisements and and agencies seem to cover nurses both rural and urban, but again can't really get a defined answer as it seems to be in the too hard basket.

3. Remote or offshore work there is a reasonable amount of work going but some of the ridiculous courses you need either run into the $1000's or are specific only to certain mines.

4. Most ambulance services don't seem to be interested in prior or current paramedics but are more interested in graduate level paramedics, which is obviously cost led as far as wages go.

We have decided upon Aus over NZ due to family in Cairns so NZ not an option for us, we did investigate NZ with my other half as a paramedic but not viable as a 2 year hiatus plus remote posting to 'possibly' become a paramedic.

At this stage he is actually looking at retraining at either a carpenter/tiler or vocational teaching due to the severe lack of any professional body or information out there about ECP roles/foreign paramedics. We understand there is event work out there however even in the UK with the numerous concerts and events on you couldn't earn a living or have continuity of work long term in this - especially obtaining a mortgage.

Please don't think we are complaining I understand we are in a good position regarding visas etc, however the length of time to obtain these quals and the responsibility required to then just throw it all away seems wrong. Please don't think my other half is being elitist obviously all things require give and take or sacrifice to get the end result and he is more than happy to take a lesser position initially if needed as we all have to start somewhere, however the information we are getting is that nobody is interested. He has filled out numerous application forms and he fits the bill completely as per the job specs but either hears nothing or they are not interested because he is not in Aus now. So we can't even pre-organise jobs - even though the applications will take months to finalise due to quals, ratification etc. It leaves us wondering if there is something he is doing drastically wrong with his applications or is it simply that employers require him to be living in Aus?

We both plan to work and I am a Beauty Therapist returning to work after being a stay at home mum of two so planning our life in Cairns prior to the move is really essential and frustrating as we can't seem to find the info we need to move forward.

Any help or knowledge would be fantastic and thank you to anyone who can shed a little light on the subject, we are not fixated on Cairns but that is our ideal location due to the love of the place and family being there.

Thanks so much!

Caroline

Hi Caro1

Did you ever get any more information regarding this? Myself and my partner are hoping to move this year to Melbourne. She's an ITU nurse and I'm a paramedic although, like your partner, work as an ECP in hospital.