Remediation in PHECC cases
PHECC is not set up by an Act of the Oireachtas like the Medical Council or NMBI. It was established by the Pre-Hospital Emergency Care Council (Establishment) Order 2000, S.I. No. 109 of 2000, and the 2004 amendment, S.I. No. 575 of 2004, gave it the Register, divided into Emergency Medical Technician, Paramedic and Advanced Paramedic divisions, and a Fitness to Practise Committee to inquire into allegations of professional misconduct or unfitness to engage in the practice of pre-hospital emergency care. PHECC's own pages spell it Fitness to Practice, and that is the term you will see in its correspondence.
The standards you are measured against are your own: the PHECC Code of Professional Conduct and Ethics, the Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPGs) at your level, and your scope of practice as shown by your division on the Register. When you renew each year you declare that you will comply with the Code, practise only within your scope and Register status, complete Patient Care Reports, and cooperate with enquiries by the Fitness to Practise Committee or Health Committee. Most complaints test one or more of those commitments.
This page explains PHECC's process in its own terms, where targeted learning can help, and which of our courses fit pre-hospital practice. No regulator vets or recommends remediation course providers and no course can guarantee an outcome. Take advice early from your union, your employer's or your own indemnity arrangements, or a solicitor. This is not legal advice.
Before you start
No regulator vets or recommends remediation course providers, and no course can guarantee an outcome. Take advice from your indemnity provider, union or solicitor, and agree with them which learning is relevant to your case.
Common concerns in pre-hospital practice, and the courses that address them
Choose learning that maps to the specific concern raised. A generic certificate rarely answers a precise allegation about a call, a handover or a Patient Care Report.
Patient Care Reports and documentation
Incomplete, late or inaccurate Patient Care Reports are both a common trigger and a common weakness in a practitioner's own defence. Completing them is part of the declaration you make each year.
Clinical handover at hospital
Information lost between crew and emergency department staff can lead to delayed treatment and complaints from receiving clinicians as well as patients.
Working outside scope or CPGs
Your scope of practice is tied to your division on the Register and to the CPGs. Deviating from a CPG without sound, documented clinical reasoning is a frequent concern.
Recognising the deteriorating patient
Missed sepsis, under-triage or failure to escalate are serious clinical concerns in time-critical care, and learning should be specific to recognition and escalation.
Medication administration
Errors with medications authorised at your level, from dose to route to documentation, need both clinical learning and a reflective review of what allowed the error.
Communication, consent and respect
Complaints from patients and families often concern attitude, explanation and consent at the scene. The Code's principles include a duty of care, seeking consent and maintaining confidentiality.
Safeguarding and capacity
Pre-hospital practitioners are often first to see signs of abuse or neglect at home, and to face refusals of care where capacity is in question.
Openness after an incident
How you report and explain an adverse event, to your service and to the patient, is judged alongside the event itself.
How a PHECC fitness to practice complaint moves
PHECC describes a staged process that begins with a written allegation and is screened before any hearing. The terms below are PHECC's own.
- 1
Written allegation
The process begins when PHECC receives a formal allegation of professional misconduct or unfitness to practise. Complaints must be in writing, name the registered practitioner, detail the alleged misconduct, and be signed with the complainant's address. A practitioner under investigation is entitled to know the complainant's name and the nature of the complaint.
- 2
Engagement with the registrant
The Registrar forwards the details of the allegation and supporting documents to the practitioner, who is invited to respond in writing. The response time is 28 days from posting by registered post, so check your registered address is current.
- 3
Investigation
The Registrar may investigate or appoint an investigator, who can engage with both the complainant and the practitioner, establish the specifics of the complaint, gather records such as Patient Care Reports, and meet the people involved.
- 4
Preliminary Proceedings Sub-Committee
The file goes to the Preliminary Proceedings Sub-Committee, also called the Screening Committee. It can dispose of complaints that are frivolous, vexatious, misconceived or lacking in substance, and it decides either that there is no case to investigate or that the allegation should be referred to the Fitness to Practice Committee.
- 5
Fitness to Practice Committee hearing
Where the Screening Committee finds a prima facie case, the matter goes to a Fitness to Practice Committee hearing. The Committee reports to Council on the nature of the allegation, the evidence laid before it and its opinion.
- 6
Council decision
Under the 2004 Order, Council may decide that the practitioner should be advised, admonished or censured, and may make the Committee's findings available to such persons as it thinks appropriate. PHECC publishes some outcomes, including a censure, on its Fitness to Practice page.
Who sits on PHECC's committees
PHECC's committees include registrants from your own profession, a medical member and a consumer representative, so your evidence will be read by people who know pre-hospital work.
Preliminary Proceedings Sub-Committee
Six members: three PHECC Register members from a standing panel, one member from a healthcare profession, one consumer representative, and a chairperson who is a non-EMT Council member, with access to a legal advisor.
Fitness to Practice Committee
Five members: two PHECC Register members, one medical member, one consumer representative, and a chairperson who is a Council member, with access to a legal advisor.
Health Committee
PHECC describes a separate Health Committee for lifestyle matters, ill health and addiction. Concerns about health are handled differently from conduct concerns, and your adviser can explain which route applies.
Separation of roles
A person cannot be a member of both the Preliminary Proceedings Sub-Committee and the Fitness to Practice Committee at the same time, or in relation to the same matter, so the people who screen your case are not the people who hear it.
Recommended PHECC remediation courses
All 18Each course is self-paced and online. You get scenario-based questions with an 80% pass mark, reflection prompts and a certificate of completion showing your name, the course title and the estimated learning time.
PHECC Clinical Case Review and CPC Portfolio
Turning real pre-hospital calls into review-ready case studies and a defensible competence portfolio
Rebuilding Trust of Patients, the Public, and the Healthcare Regulator
Restoring Trustworthiness in the Irish Healthcare Context
Documentation for Healthcare Professionals
Clear, Accurate and Safe Clinical Record-Keeping in Irish Healthcare
Clinical Handover and Patient Safety
Structured clinical handover as a patient-safety process in the Irish healthcare context
Sepsis and the Deteriorating Patient
Recognising, escalating, and managing sepsis and clinical deterioration
Human Factors and Patient Safety
Designing work around human strengths and limits to make care safer
Medication Safety and Error Prevention
Preventing medication error and responding safely when it occurs
Duty of Candour in Healthcare Practice
Openness and honesty when things go wrong, in the Irish healthcare context
Ensuring Teamwork and Collaboration for Healthcare Professionals
Effective, Safe, and Professional Team-Based Care in the Irish Context
Building evidence the Fitness to Practice Committee can weigh
Your evidence will be read by Register members who know the realities of the road. Make it specific to the call, the concern and the changes you have made since.
What to put in your bundle
- Certificates of completion showing your name, the course title and the estimated learning time, matched to the concern raised
- A written reflective account for each course, linked to the call or incident involved
- Anonymised examples of recent Patient Care Reports showing improved documentation
- A clinical case review of a comparable call, showing reasoning linked to the current CPGs
- Evidence that your CPG status is current, including any update training completed through your service
- Your ePortfolio record, kept up to date while the new CPD scheme is rolled out
- Feedback from a clinical supervisor, practice educator or crew colleague who has observed your practice
- A personal development plan with dated learning goals and a review date
- Records of any debrief, audit or quality improvement work you have taken part in since the concern arose
Writing your reflection
- Describe the call or event factually, including what you knew at the time
- Explain the impact on the patient, the family and the receiving team
- Link your learning to the Code of Professional Conduct and Ethics and the relevant CPG
- Show what you now do differently on calls, with examples
- Say how you will keep the change going under pressure, fatigue and time constraints
When to start
You have 28 days from posting to reply in writing once PHECC forwards an allegation, so speak to your union representative or solicitor straight away about that response. Learning can start in parallel. Starting early gives you time to apply what you learn on real calls and to gather proof, such as improved Patient Care Reports and supervisor feedback, before a hearing.
Our courses are self-paced and fit around shift work, with gated lessons completed in order and scenario-based questions with an 80% pass mark, so they cannot be skimmed. Each course has an estimated learning time of two to five hours. Two or three closely matched courses, followed by weeks of applied practice and honest reflection, will usually say more than a long list of certificates.
Employer processes and PHECC are separate
Many concerns about pre-hospital practitioners are first raised inside the National Ambulance Service, Dublin Fire Brigade, or a private or voluntary provider. An internal investigation, a clinical review and a PHECC complaint can run side by side, and the outcome of one does not decide the other.
Keep your learning and reflection in one place so the same evidence can support each process, and be consistent in what you say. Your union representative or solicitor can advise on what to share with each body.
CPD while the CPC scheme is paused
PHECC has paused the EMT CPC scheme and approved a new CPD scheme for all registrants, to be rolled out in the coming months. Until the details are published, keep recording your learning on the ePortfolio, including the reflective accounts you write for remediation.
Well-documented case reviews and reflection are likely to remain at the centre of pre-hospital CPD whatever the new scheme requires, and they are also the most useful form of evidence if a concern is ever raised about your practice.
Mistakes practitioners make when responding to PHECC
- Missing the 28-day response window or letting your registered postal address go out of date
- Replying to the Registrar without advice, or in a defensive tone that blames the crew or the patient
- Choosing generic courses that say nothing about the call, the CPG or the record involved
- Assuming a CPG deviation explains itself, rather than setting out the clinical reasoning behind it
- Describing a course as PHECC approved, when PHECC does not vet remediation courses
- Letting your ePortfolio lapse while the CPC scheme is paused
PHECC remediation: common questions
Who can make a complaint to PHECC about me?
PHECC accepts written complaints about alleged professional misconduct by registered practitioners. The complaint must name you, set out the alleged misconduct, and be signed with the complainant's address. You are entitled to know the complainant's name and the nature of the complaint.
How long do I have to respond?
PHECC says the response time is 28 days from posting by registered post. Take advice from your union representative or a solicitor before you reply, and keep your registered address up to date.
What does the Preliminary Proceedings Sub-Committee do?
It acts as the Screening Committee. It can dispose of complaints that are frivolous, vexatious, misconceived or lacking in substance, and it decides whether there is no case to investigate or whether the allegation should go to the Fitness to Practice Committee.
What outcomes can follow a Fitness to Practice hearing?
The 2004 amendment to PHECC's Establishment Order allows Council to decide that a practitioner should be advised, admonished or censured, and to make findings available to appropriate persons. PHECC's public pages do not set out a full list of other consequences for registration, so ask your adviser how your case could affect your place on the Register.
Is a health concern handled the same way as misconduct?
No. PHECC describes a separate Health Committee for lifestyle matters, ill health and addiction. Your registration declaration also asks you to disclose any known health condition or addiction that could affect your fitness to practise.
Will completing courses stop the complaint?
No course can stop a regulatory process or guarantee an outcome. Targeted learning, honest reflection and evidence of safer practice are things you and your representative can decide to put forward where they are relevant.
What CPD do I need right now?
The EMT CPC scheme is paused, and a new CPD scheme approved by Council is being rolled out for EMTs, Paramedics and Advanced Paramedics. Keep your ePortfolio up to date and watch PHECC's website for the details of the new scheme.
Official sources
This page was checked against Pre-Hospital Emergency Care Council guidance in October 2026. Processes and guidance change, so always confirm the current position with the regulator and your adviser. This page is general information, not legal advice.