Executive overview
The role of the UK paramedic is evolving rapidly in 2025. With expanding responsibilities in community and primary care, urgent community response (UCR), and traditional ambulance crews, the need for faster triage, safer on-scene decisions, and lighter documentation has never been greater. Artificial intelligence is now providing a suite of powerful tools designed to meet these demands across the home, roadside, and GP/UCC settings.
From AI-supported emergency dispatch and video triage to on-scene assessment with AI-powered ECG and ultrasound, the technology is already making an impact. This guide provides a practical map of the AI tools available to UK paramedics now, covering how they can be paired with core clinical protocols like JRCALC and implemented within NHS governance frameworks, always keeping the experienced clinician in the loop.
Use-case map (from call to handover)
AI can support the paramedic workflow at every stage of the patient journey:
- Pre-arrival/dispatch: AI provides listening and triage support during emergency calls, while live video triage helps to reduce unnecessary conveyance and guide the right resources to the scene.
- On-scene assessment: AI assists with 12-lead ECG interpretation for STEMI/arrhythmia, provides guidance for Point-of-Care Ultrasound (POCUS), and generates red-flag prompts to aid diagnostic reasoning.
- Treatment & decision-to-convey: AI-assisted risk tools can help with decision-making, while Q&A tools provide rapid concordance checks against JRCALC and local pathways.
- Documentation & handover: Where approved, ambient scribing can automate note-taking, generating structured and cited summaries for a more efficient handover to the receiving ED or GP.
Core clinical protocols & medicines anchors
While AI provides powerful support, these core resources remain the ground truth for UK paramedic practice.
- JRCALC / JRCALC+ app: The Joint Royal Colleges Ambulance Liaison Committee guidelines are the primary clinical reference and contain the definitive dosing algorithms for ambulance clinicians.
- BNF / Nurse Prescribers’ Formulary (NPF): Essential for medicines checks, particularly for paramedic independent prescribers and those working in primary care settings.
- Resuscitation Council UK (iResus app): The go-to reference for up-to-date ALS/ILS algorithms and checklists for arrest and peri-arrest care.
Dispatch & remote triage tools (pre-arrival)
- GoodSAM instant video triage: This platform allows the control room or a clinician to initiate a secure, one-click video stream from the caller’s smartphone, supporting remote clinical ‘see-and-treat’ decisions and enabling earlier, more effective escalation.
- Corti (AI for emergency call-taking): Corti's AI listens in on emergency calls in real time, providing decision support to the call-taker by detecting subtle cues for conditions like cardiac arrest, which can improve recognition and speed up the delivery of protocol-concordant instructions.
On-scene assessment: ECG, POCUS and red-flags
- ECG AI (e.g., PMcardio): AI algorithms can provide a pre-hospital interpretation of a 12-lead ECG, detecting STEMI, occlusion MI, and high-risk arrhythmias. These tools are used to support early cath-lab pre-alerts alongside, not instead of, clinician interpretation.
- POCUS with AI guidance (e.g., Butterfly iQ+): Modern handheld ultrasound devices now come with on-device AI assistants that can provide image quality guidance, auto-calculate bladder volume, or count B-lines, accelerating lung, abdominal, and fluid assessments.
- Vital-signs & deterioration prompts: Many modern monitors and ePCR apps include early warning scoring (aligned with NEWS2) with AI-aided trend detection to flag deteriorating patients earlier.
Point-of-care evidence & Q&A (with citations)
- Medwise AI: Offers rapid retrieval of both national and local Trust guidance, which is particularly handy for community paramedics who may work across different ICS boundaries.
- Trip / AskTrip: Provides evidence-filtered search and AI-generated answers with direct links to guidelines, systematic reviews, and RCTs for time-critical questions.
- iatroX (Ask & Brainstorm): A UK-oriented, citation-first Q&A tool for reference and educational use, ideal for structuring thoughts around a differential diagnosis.
- BMJ Best Practice (OpenAthens): The offline app provides reliable, stepwise diagnosis and management guides for common presentations seen in urgent care settings. (Workflow tip: copy one or two source links from these tools into your ePCR or handover note to document the provenance of your information.)
Documentation & handover: NHS-guided ambient scribing
Where approved by a Trust or ICS, ambient voice/scribe tools can capture the consultation narrative and automatically generate structured notes and handover letters. However, implementation requires strict adherence to NHS guardrails, including a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA), a clinical safety case, and appropriate MHRA registration (minimum Class I for summarisation). Every AI-generated note must be verified and signed off by the clinician.
Micro-workflows (copy-ready, paramedic-specific)
- Chest pain at home: 12-lead + ECG AI screen → follow JRCALC ACS algorithm → consider POCUS lung scan if dyspnoea → contact receiving centre with a structured summary, pre-alerting if indicated.
- Falls in the frail patient (UCR): Use GoodSAM video for an initial environment check → on scene, use POCUS to check for bladder retention → check medicines in the BNF/NPF → decide conveyance vs. community plan; document with a verified ambient scribe note.
- Breathlessness of uncertain cause: Use AskTrip or Medwise for a quick, referenced differential and red-flag check → follow the JRCALC respiratory pathway → use POCUS to look for B-lines/effusions → treat as per protocol and include two key citations in your handover.
Selection criteria & buyer’s checklist (for Trusts/PCNs/UCR teams)
- Clinical value: Does the tool improve time-to-decision or guideline concordance in your key scenarios (e.g., ACS, stroke, sepsis)?
- Provenance: Does it show its sources and the version/date of its on-device algorithms?
- Integration: Can it export data into your ePCR/EPR and support secure media handover (ECG PDFs, POCUS clips)?
- Governance: Is the vendor DTAC-ready? Do they have the required MHRA status? Is there a robust offline mode for signal-poor settings?
- Human-in-the-loop: Is there an explicit, mandatory verification step before any AI suggestion becomes a recorded action?
Risks & mitigations
- Over-reliance on AI outputs: Mitigate by requiring clinician verification for all outputs and maintaining a strong cultural reliance on JRCALC and device-native interpretations as the ground truth.
- False reassurance / missed diagnoses: Set low thresholds for pre-alerting and perform serial ECGs or POCUS scans where clinically indicated.
- Data/consent lapses with video/scribes: Use standardised consent scripts, keep video off by default, and ensure secure data transfer and retention policies are in place.
- Equity & bias: Test tools across different accents, noisy environments, and diverse patient groups to monitor for performance gaps.
30-60-90 day adoption plan (paramedic-led)
- Days 1–30: Choose one clinical pathway (e.g., chest pain) and baseline your metrics. Train a small cohort on using an ECG AI and an evidence Q&A tool, mandating citation logging in the ePCR.
- Days 31–60: Add video triage for selected call categories. Pilot a POCUS AI tool in a UCR vehicle with defined indications. Start an ambient scribe pilot in one team (with full governance in place).
- Days 61–90: Review your pilot metrics. Tune any thresholds and refine consent flows. Expand to a second pathway (e.g., falls) and publish formal SOPs.
FAQ block
- Are AI ECG tools safe to use pre-hospital?
- Yes, when used as decision support. Always use CE/UKCA-marked tools, and remember that clinician interpretation and the JRCALC algorithm remain the final check.
- Can paramedics use video triage with callers?
- Yes, where local Trust policies and governance permit. Always use secure links, gain explicit consent, and do not record unless the policy requires it.
- Do ambient scribes meet NHS rules?
- Only if they have been locally approved with a full DPIA, a clinical safety case, and the proper MHRA classification. Every note must be verified by a clinician.
- Which evidence tools show their sources?
- Prefer platforms like AskTrip, Medwise, and iatroX that link to guidelines or studies, so you can paste the citations directly into your ePCR.