The Awarding Bodies - Pre-Hospital Emergency Care Council

Awarding Bodies are organisations that are authorised to make awards, certification, or award qualifications

Listing Awarding Bodies

WhichCollege.ie provides an overview of awarding bodies operating in Ireland, the UK, and internationally. While many postgraduate qualifications are issued by organisations with statutory authority, a wide range of professional bodies also grant their own awards linked to advanced study. Although most Irish courses lead to qualifications from domestic awarding bodies, some programmes result in international or non‑Irish awards, depending on the institution or field of study.

A number of Irish institutions act both as education providers and as awarding bodies in their own right. This includes the Irish universities and the Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT), which have the authority to confer postgraduate qualifications.

An academic award (whether a degree, diploma, or certificate) is granted when a learner successfully completes a recognised programme of higher education at undergraduate or postgraduate level. These awards are issued by designated awarding bodies and are aligned with the National Framework of Qualifications (NFQ). The NFQ distinguishes between major and non‑major awards, with the latter covering minor, special‑purpose, and supplemental awards.

Major awards represent the primary qualification type at each NFQ level and correspond to substantial learning achievements. Examples include an Honours Bachelor Degree at Level 8, a Master’s Degree at Level 9, and a Doctoral Degree at Level 10.

Recent legislative changes have streamlined Ireland’s qualifications system, reducing the number of statutory awarding bodies. The responsibilities previously held by organisations such as the National Council for Educational Awards (NCEA), the National Council for Vocational Awards (NCVA), Solas, Teagasc, CERT, and Bord Iascaigh Mhara have been consolidated under the awards councils FETAC and HETAC.

Below, WhichCollege.ie outlines the awarding bodies responsible for certification across Ireland and the UK.

young female student sitting with a laptop on her lap smiling

The Pre-Hospital Emergency Care Council (PHECC) is an independent statutory organisation. They are the regulator for emergency medical services (EMS) in Ireland.

Duties and responsibilities

Implementing, monitoring and further developing the standards of care provided by all ambulance services in Ireland
Conducting examinations at six levels of pre-hospital care
The control of ambulance practitioner registration
The publication of clinical practice guidelines
Maintaining a statutory register of EMS practitioners

PHECC sets the standards for education and training for pre-hospital emergency care in Ireland. The Council publishes clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) and recognise institutions to provide pre-hospital emergency care training and education.

In addition, the Council approve pre-hospital emergency care service providers to implement clinical practice guidelines.

Levels of Care

There are six levels of care set down by PHECC. There are three Responder levels and three Practitioner levels.

Responder levels of care provide basic medical training to lay people. This includes non-medical emergency services personnel, sports club staff and those designated to provide first aid at work.

In addition to this, voluntary ambulance services such as Civil Defence, Order of Malta Ambulance Corps, Irish Red Cross and the St John Ambulance Brigade of Ireland depend on responder training to allow their members provide on-site first aid at the various events they cover.

Practitioners must register annually with PHECC to practice their skills. Upon qualification and registration, a practitioner receives a licence and unique PIN. The practitioner enters their PIN on Patient Care Report forms. This is done for both reference purposes, record-keeping and proof of continuous professional development.

CPG Approved Service Providers

All organisations and companies who provide an ambulance service in any capacity must register with PHECC as a CPG Approved Service Provider. They must also to work to the current edition of Clinical Practice Guidelines published by PHECC.

Showing page 1 of 1 (listing 0 matching courses)

Apologies, we have no courses that match your search criteria. Please adjust your search and try again.