CP Course For State Registered Paramedic

Phil M

Guys,
I've been posed a question by a colleague's brother. He is a State Registered IHCD Qualified Paramedic currently working in Scotland. He is interested in attending a CP Course, but is unsure which course would be beneficial to him. What are your thoughts?

Phil

Longmoor

Phil

There are many providers out there of differing quality and standard. His choice in company depends on where he wants to work, is he looking for hostile or executive work?

With his medical training he will not need to attend the First Aid partof the course and will save a few quid.

Ask him to give us a call he can get our number from Longmoor Group - Home.

morrigan

Good advise from Longmoor. Morrigans can also help. We can tailor something specificaly even. Contact us on marcus@morrigansolutions.org or call +38121 526672

cpt291

Again I echo the comments above. Good Advise from Longmoor. Your colleagues brother will need to decide what he is trying to achieve by completing the course.

As Longmoor said there are loads of companies out there, but each and every one offer a different standard of training. Look at the background of the instructors. Rmp are good for hostile work and executive protection. SAS are OK for hostile work, although some may be out of date. Civil Police guys are good for executive protection. My advice is not to skrimp and save on a provider, the more expensive ones usually charge more for good reason, often the background of the instructors and the fact that you will be taken way beyond the sia 15 core competencies.

If he is considering work in the UK he need to look at a company the trains him for SIA licensing. If he is working overseas the law states he does not need a lic, however many of the companies require people to have one as a benchmark standard.

Companies are starting to look at who they have been trained by, some will not even employ you if you have not completed a recoqnised/ high quality course.

If you want my opinion on the better companies, please PM me. Good Luck

morrigan

Disagree strongly with the suggestion that companies will not look at you if you have not had 'recognized' training. There are some extremely good training companies out there, ourselves included and to suggest that a candidate might suffer if he/she does not go with a so called 'recognized trainer is not necessarily true.

If the trainer provides a high level of course content and instruction as we do and at a lower price than others, that does not mean that the standard of training is inferior. It could just as easily be the case that that training company, as in our case, has deliberately chosen to offer training services at a more realistically affordable price and has made an effort to minimize its own costs and overheads to do so.

cpt291

Morrigan thanks for your reply. It is what it is! I have worked in this industry for a number of years and meet CPOs every day who are finding it hard to get work. Why? Because they have chosen to be trained by a company whose course is not highly regarded in the industry.

Lets look at the nature of the people that employ CPOs, the majority are HNWIs and want a premier service. They do not want to by a Skoda when they can have a Rolls Royce.

if you have 2 identical people with all the same atributes. One chooses a company that only trains people in the 15 core competencies and the other chooses a training company that teaches more than the basics set out buy the sia. Who would you rather employ?

My comment about cost is valid and I stand by it regardless of what you think. If a company is charging a realistically higher amount for a course it is usually because something else is added over above the SIA requirements.

Everyone has a degree nowadays and as a result employers look at where you obtained the degree from as a mark of quality. It is the same for the CP Lic. A degree from Bangor is not the same as one form Oxford.

morrigan

You make good points and i agree for the most part, however i believe it is wrong to dismiss some trainers just because they have not yet achieved a 'name' We at Morrigans specialise in HECPO/PSD for the most part because that is the background of the company founders. All are ex SF mil/police and all have been (and most still are) active in the HE field in both pits and elsewhere. The experience they have is brought to the courses which are constantly updated and made as current and as valid as possible.

If i sound as though i have the hump its probably because it frustrates me when that kind of experience seems to come second to someone who (no names) was last in a hostile environment down the high street on a Saturday night. Hope you see my point.

cpt291

I totally agree with what you are saying. If you are as good as you profess to be then in time this will be realised and you will become one of the trainers that everyone talks about. Others will have the joy of ranting about it!

I hate the fact that people get trained by essentially over rated bouncers, who you are right have experience of there own back yard!

I wish you well guys and I hope that you will develop a name for yourself as one of the quality providers that everyone talks about, but I am sure it takes time!

morrigan

Thanks for your response. I would point out that we do not (and i think our posts back this up) profess to be good or better than anyone else. We are more than happy to recommend other trainers and have done on many occasions. Our reputation is growing and we are very proud of that.

The Directors of Morrigan and all the staff have a very basic philosophy, one which we are absolutely not prepared to compromise, that the training we provide is the very best available.....that it is relevant, up to date, of real value to the operator and that the graduates from our courses (bearing in mind ours are strictly pass or fail) are people with whom we would gladly work alongside ourselves.

We strongly believe that that should be the overriding end goal of ALL training providers.

sparkymedic

Phil,

Just to get back to your question!...............I'm a SR Para and did a CP Course last year with Control Risks. Cost me £2500, and was 2 weeks long. I chose that one because it was recommended. Whether thats the best one who knows but it's the only one i've done and i managed to get work straight after as a medic on a PSD. As previously said a lot of companies/clients will want to see the CP course on your CV even if it's not a particular requirement. I'm also ex-mil so that probably helped. One thing i would say on the medical side of things, the sia criteria for a license stipulates a valid First Aid qual ie. IHCD FPOS or HSE First Aid at work; i had huge problems trying to get my course completion certificate out of CRG so i could apply for my SIA license! believe it or not it doesn't matter if your an A+E Consultant Doctor, you need a First Aid certificate; when i approached the SIA (several times) they couldn't seem to grasp what i was telling them; that my level of qual was way above First Aid; and CRG would only issue me my certificate on proof of a valid First Aid certificate! Nightmare, i've sorted it now but something to be aware of. In conclusion; and in my very short time in the world of CP if you do a course that has good instructors and gives you a solid grounding that's what counts, apply for the SIA license if you want to work in the UK, if you want to do Iraq/Afghan don't bother. The CP course was a means to an end for me.....and it seems to have worked...i'm back overseas again soon....

PM me if you want any more info
hope that helps