Health care policy with ambulance clinicians in mind

Governments decide health policy and control the NHS through the Department of Health (DH) (Williamson et al, 2010). For this reason, some of the most pertinent policies and documents published by the DH have been chosen for discussion within this article. The wealth of documents, policies, strategies and recommendations governing ambulance clinicians' working lives, can sometimes be overwhelming and cover an extensive range of topics. It can be a lengthy and onerous task to read through even the summaries of each document and deciding if the content pertains to the role. The DH is the principal government department with responsibility for health matters and publication of health policy for England. However, there may be some overarching principles that are similar for Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. Details and structures created are slightly different throughout the UK (Williamson et al, 2010). The focus of this article is on England and the application to the NHS, however some principles may be ...