[1] This frontline staff role was introduced in 2006 as part of the modernisation of NHS emergency ambulances and also to lower costs.
[3] The College of Paramedics does not expect ECAs to be required to make complex clinical decisions.
[6][7][8] Unions representing ambulance workers had fears that the workforce changes could lead to an increase in the risk to patients as well as adding to the workload of paramedics[9][10][11] and had written to East Midlands Ambulance Service to ask for the reintroduction of the technician role.
They can render initial aid and assist with the management of a patient, but cannot make clinical decisions in the context of 999 work.
In December 2014, after a steep rise in the number of paramedics on long term sick leave suffering stress, Yorkshire Ambulance Service said they would be bringing back the technician role.