First Response Emergency Care (FREC 4), Level 4 Certificate

The Qualsafe Level 4 Certificate in First Response Emergency Care (FREC 4), delivered with our partner Centre4 Medical. It's the next step up from FREC 3: five days of face-to-face training and assessment, then guided workbooks you complete afterwards.

Booking terms and conditions

Overview

FREC 4 is an intermediate prehospital care qualification for people who already hold FREC 3 and want to go further. You'll learn to assess patients using physiological measures, such as blood pressure, blood glucose and ECG, and act on what you find. You'll also learn to assist clinicians with clinical procedures. The face-to-face week covers the teaching, the practical assessments, the skills tests and the exams. Alongside it you'll complete three workbooks, one for each part of the qualification, in your own time. We deliver the course with our partner Centre4 Medical, and groups are taught at no more than six learners to each trainer. Who it's for Qualsafe describes FREC 4 as a good fit for people who want to: - Progress within NHS or private ambulance services, for example as an emergency care assistant or intermediate ambulance practitioner - Work as an event medical provider, associate practitioner or healthcare assistant - Support specialist medical roles in the military, police and fire services It's also for anyone with a specific responsibility at work, or in voluntary and community work, to provide prehospital emergency and urgent care. The course is open to everyone who meets the entry requirements below. Duration and assessment Qualsafe sets the total qualification time at 180 hours. At least 39 of those are guided learning with your trainers, which is the face-to-face week. The other 141 hours are your own study: pre-course reading, the three workbooks, research and mentored practice or work experience. Before the course, Qualsafe recommends around 20 hours of reading covering patient assessment, normal physiological values for children and adults, oxygen and Entonox guidelines, anatomy and physiology, recognising the sick child, and sepsis. You're assessed in four ways: - Two practical assessments, observed by your trainer: adult immediate life support, and assessment and treatment of trauma - Three skills tests: physiological observations, assisting with clinical interventions, and immobilisation and extrication equipment - Two invigilated exams: ECG recognition (15 minutes, 50% pass mark) and applied anatomy and physiology (45 minutes, with a minimum pass mark for every question) - Three workbooks, one per part of the qualification, completed after the course The result is pass or fail, and you need to pass every assessment to achieve the qualification. What "12 months" means You have up to 12 months to complete everything, including the workbooks and any resits. The five days cover the teaching and the in-person assessments. The remaining requirements, mainly the three workbooks and your off-course study, are completed in your own time within that 12-month window. Workbooks are marked within 20 working days of you handing them in. You're awarded the certificate once every assessment is passed, and the certificate date is the date you pass the last one. After the course FREC 4 doesn't have a fixed expiry date. It stays valid as long as you keep a CPD portfolio and attend refresher training every year. That refresher should cover cardiorespiratory arrest and life-threatening injury and illness, and could be an Immediate Life Support qualification. Where it can lead FREC 4 can count towards further qualifications at the same level and above, and can support career progression in a relevant profession. Qualsafe designed it as evidence for employers that you've completed a programme of learning and assessment in prehospital care. Your employer then decides your scope of practice.