Accreditation – Explorer courses
This page seeks to clarify the situation regarding WMT Explorer courses with respect to accreditation, the UK Health and Safety Executive and National Governing Body awards and BS8848.
Here’s a useful summary:
- WMT Explorer courses are the informal industry standard, supported, recommended and endorsed by the likes of the Royal Geographical Society/IBG and World Challenge Expeditions.
- There is no qualification structure in the UK for the level of medical training that WMT offers for overseas travellers.
- To our knowledge no UK NGB has ever rejected WMT training. (The BAIML awards CDP points for WMT courses).
- It is definately not always necessary to also get an HSE first aid ticket if you have been trained by WMT.
- BS8848 is very clear that the medical cover on a trip must be commensurate with the venture.
- WMT issues its own certificate and with it authorises its students for three years to buy the drugs we teach you about.
- The phrase emergency medical technician does not carry any legal distinction in the UK, like nurse or paramedic does.
- WMT’s Explorer courses are widely recognised as the informal industry standard for people undertaking adventurous travel to overseas locations and our client list speaks for itself in this regard. For example, WMT is the only medical course provider to have partnered with the RGS/IBG in London who have hosted our foundation Far From Help course anually for the last decade.
Are WMT courses HSE approved? Our courses are not approved by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) for the purposes of meeting an employer’s obligation to provide suitable personnel to administer first aid within a UK workplace (office, factory etc). This does not present a difficulty for our students as the vast majority of them will be operating in overseas locations, to which our training is tailored, outside the remit of the HSE.
Do I need to have an HSE ticket in addition to my WMT training? In many circumstances, it is certainly not the case that an HSE first aid ticket is required for certain roles even if it is demanded. Many organisations that ask for this are simply “stuck” and out of step with what is practically required in terms of appropriate medical training, and the law. We appreciate that it is frustrating, time consuming and costly if you want the advanced training that WMT provides AND are told by an employer or organisation that you must also have an HSE ticket. If you face this situation we suggest you push back and use this information page and the course syllabus as evidence that WMT training is more comprehensive than any HSE course on offer. The HSE does not have a remit outside of the UK.
BS8848 Expedition groups, including schools and university researchers, should familiarise themselves with the guidelines set out by BS8848 with regard to medical preparations and training for overseas activities (referred to as ventures). BS8848 clearly states that the medical cover you should have must be commensurate with the needs of the venture. For example, World Challenge Expeditions is satisfied that its leaders do not have to have an HSE ticket if they have completed Far From Help or Advanced Medicine with WMT. Please see our web page BS8848.
WMT & UK NGB Awards. Though they are much more advanced, we have sought to align our Far From Help and Advanced Medicine courses with the syllabus requirements of the UK National Governing Bodies for registrants of outdoor instructor qualifications. There is no independent licensing body in the UK for the delivery of WMT-type training but our courses are accepted by the British Canoe Union (BCU), British Association of Ski Instructors (BASI), International Mountain Leader (IML), Mountain Leader Training (MLTUK) and Royal Yachting Association (RYA) as meeting the requirement for award holders to have a certain level of first aid training. Some organisations award CPD (continuing professional development) credits for WMT training that is above and beyond their pre-requisite first aid training, e.g . BAIML awards one CPD point for Far From Help and two for Advanced Medicine. At no time in WMT’s history have we been made aware that a student has had their WMT training rejected by any NGB.
Are WMT courses “certified”? There is no body in the UK that “certifies” WMT-type training. Certification from WMT is in the form of an A4 certificate, valid for three years, during which time we will also endorse the acquisition of the prescription medications discussed on your course.
WMT would like to point out that in the UK, the term Emergency Medical Technician (or EMT) is a loose title that carries no legal protection or distinction, unlike the terms nurse and paramedic which do (meaning you can’t call yourself a nurse or paramedic unless appropriately trained and professionally registered). This means that any training provider could advertise that it is offering an EMT course – but this does not imply that a nationally recognised qualification is being delivered, nor do such courses follow a prescribed or externally accredited syllabus. Beware of such marketing hype! EMT is very much an American term.
