The Diploma in Immediate Medical Care is the benchmark pre-hospital care qualification in the UK. Awarded by the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh through the Faculty of Pre-Hospital Care, it tests the knowledge, technical skills, and non-technical skills of practitioners who provide pre-hospital emergency care — whether you are a doctor, paramedic, or nurse.
The DipIMC occupies a unique position in the postgraduate exam landscape: it is one of the few UK qualifications where everyone — regardless of professional background — sits the same exam at the same standard. A consultant anaesthetist and a paramedic meet the same mark sheet. This makes it uniquely challenging and uniquely respected.
Pre-hospital emergency medicine is a growing CCT pathway, and the DipIMC is a recognised entry-level qualification for doctors pursuing PHEM careers, BASICS work, expedition medicine, military medical roles, and air ambulance positions.
What Is the DipIMC and Who Sits It?
The DipIMC is a postgraduate diploma assessing competence in pre-hospital and immediate medical care. It is administered by the Faculty of Pre-Hospital Care (FPHC) of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh.
Who sits it: GPs with expedition, wilderness, or event medicine roles. Doctors working in BASICS schemes. Police and military medical officers. Air ambulance and HEMS clinical personnel. Pre-hospital emergency medicine trainees. Paramedics and nurses with pre-hospital care interest.
Exam Format
Part A — Written Paper. 180 single best answer questions in 3 hours. Covers the full breadth of the FPHC pre-hospital care curriculum. Fee: approximately £725-760. Can be sat at the RCSEd in Edinburgh or, for limited numbers, in Birmingham.
Part B — OSPE (Objective Structured Practical Examination). 14 stations: 12 at 8 minutes, 2 extended at 16 minutes. Live actors, mannequins, Sandpiper bag. Held exclusively at the RCSEd in Edinburgh.
Both parts must be passed. They can be taken in either order and during the same diet. Maximum 4 attempts. Held twice yearly (typically January and June/July). A pass in one part is valid for 3 subsequent available diets.
Syllabus Overview
Scene management and safety. METHANE reporting, CSCATTT framework, triage sieve and triage sort, NARU command and control, JESIP joint working principles, dynamic risk assessment.
Airway and breathing. Pre-hospital airway management, surgical airway (cricothyroidotomy), RSI principles in pre-hospital environments, capnography, ventilation strategies.
Circulation and haemorrhage control. Damage control resuscitation, tourniquets and wound packing, pelvic binders, permissive hypotension, tranexamic acid, blood product resuscitation.
Disability and neurological assessment. Head injury management, GCS vs AVPU, raised ICP recognition, spinal injury assessment and immobilisation decisions.
Exposure and environmental emergencies. Hypothermia, drowning, burns (Wallace rule of nines, Parkland formula), heat illness, altitude illness, envenomation.
Trauma. Mechanism of injury, polytrauma (cABCDE), blast injuries, penetrating trauma, paediatric trauma.
Medical emergencies pre-hospital. STEMI pathway activation, stroke (FAST), anaphylaxis, status epilepticus, DKA, poisoning — all in pre-hospital context with limited resources.
Obstetric emergencies. Pre-hospital delivery, PPH, eclampsia, cord prolapse, shoulder dystocia, neonatal resuscitation.
Paediatric emergencies. Age-specific drug doses, paediatric anatomy differences, paediatric trauma assessment, safeguarding recognition.
Pharmacology. Pre-hospital drug protocols (ketamine, morphine, fentanyl, TXA, adrenaline, midazolam, aspirin, amiodarone), controlled drug prescribing in pre-hospital settings.
Best DipIMC Revision Resources in 2026
iatroX DipIMC Adaptive Q-Bank
iatroX Boards provides 700+ adaptive MCQ questions mapped to the DipIMC syllabus — the only dedicated adaptive Q-bank for the DipIMC. No equivalent exists elsewhere.
The adaptive engine identifies your weakest domains and concentrates practice there. Performance dashboard shows proficiency by domain. Explanations reference JRCALC, Resuscitation Council UK, NICE, and FPHC Faculty Statements. Mobile app for on-shift revision. A single subscription includes the DipIMC bank alongside other specialty Q-banks. MHRA-registered platform.
ABC of Prehospital Emergency Medicine
The essential DipIMC textbook. Aligned to the curriculum. Read cover to cover.
FPHC Faculty Statements
Directly testable — at least one OSPE station has been based on a Faculty Statement. Free on the FPHC website.
JRCALC / NARU / MIMMS
JRCALC for drug protocols. NARU for major incident management. MIMMS for triage and scene management. All directly tested.
10-Week Revision Plan
Weeks 1-2: iatroX baseline diagnostic. Read FPHC Faculty Statements. Weeks 3-4: Trauma and haemorrhage control. Week 5: Airway management (pre-hospital specific). Week 6: Medical emergencies pre-hospital. Week 7: Major incidents, triage, scene management. Week 8: Environmental, obstetric, paediatric emergencies. Week 9: Pharmacology and controlled drug prescribing. Week 10: Mixed adaptive sessions + OSPE practical preparation.
OSPE Preparation
Practise cABCDE until it is reflex. Handle equipment until every item is familiar. Simulate full scenarios with colleagues. Attend BASICS courses or simulation sessions. Common failure: knowing the theory but freezing when verbalising a structured primary survey under time pressure. Practise talking out loud.
Career Pathways After Passing
PHEM sub-specialty training (toward FPHM). Expedition and wilderness medicine. Mass casualty response. Military medical officer roles. Event medicine. Air ambulance clinical crews.
Start at iatroX Boards — the only dedicated adaptive resource for the DipIMC.