Doctors: In order to work on the TT Course, or the Billown Course, a doctor needs to hold FULL registration with the General Medical Council (GMC). This also applies to UK mainland motorsport events.
In addition to full registration, a doctor needs to have a licence to practice issued by the GMC. In order to get and maintain a licence to practice, a doctor has to have a Designated Body and be subject to revalidation.
Doctors that work outside the UK (and therefore do not hold full GMC registration) but within the EU, should contact the GMC as there are certain circumstances where they can be permitted to work for short times within the UK.
Because FY1 doctors hold a provisional registration rather than a full registration, they are only permitted to work within approved Foundation Year 1 posts, and are therefore not permitted to work on the TT or Billown Courses.
The GMC regulations concerning FY2 doctors has changed, so that even though they are required to work within an Approved Practice Setting (APS), provided that their Educational Supervisor is happy, they are allowed to work outside their Designated Body. It is quite possible that your Educational Supervisor might want further information about the nature of the work and the level of supervision before allowing you to work on the TT Course. We are happy to provide such information for you to pass to your Educational Supervisor. You can read more about Approved Practice Settings here.
Paramedics: In order to work as a Paramedic on the TT Course, or the Billown Course, you need to be a State Registered Paramedic with the Health & Care Professions Council (HCPC).
Do I require Medical Malpractice Insurance?
We are pleased to say that we have been able to organise Medical Malpractice cover for all of the Doctors and Paramedics that work for us during the TT and the Manx Grand Prix as well as during the road races on the Billown Course (Pre-TT Classic races, Post-TT races and the International Southern 100 races). In order to be covered medics need to be Statutorily Regulated. For doctors this means that they have to be registered with the GMC and have a licence to practice. For Paramedics this means that they have to be registered with the HCPC (Health and Care Professions Council) and hold a current licence.
Our Medical Malpractice Insurance will only provide cover whilst you are working for us during one of the events that we provide medical services for. Should you choose to carry out other work whilst on the Isle of Man (such as working alongside the Isle of Man Police) our Medical Malpractice Insurance will not provide cover for that work, and you should make sure that alternative malpractice cover is in place for those activities.
Do I need any specific qualifications?
As a doctor or paramedic, your “Duty of Care” requires you to be competent at dealing with the type of casualties you might expect to encounter when volunteering to work on the TT course. That means that you need to have knowledge of basic first aid and resuscitation/life support as a minimum. Alyhough not essential, there are other skills that would be very valuable, and we would always recommend that you try to attend an appropriate course such as ATLS (Advanced Trauma Life Support), PHEC (Pre-hospital Emergency Care) or PHTLS (pre-hospital Trauma Life Support). More information about these can be found on our Educational Resources page.
Currently, it is not an absolute requirement that you have any of these qualifications, although it is your responsibility to make sure that you are working within your own level of competence.
We would also recommend that you read the BMA guidance for Doctors providing medical care at sporting events here.
Having said all of that, it is important to remember that you will be supported by an experienced team of Marshals, as well as by the very experienced crews in the Air Ambulances and/or Medical cars in use around the TT and Billown Courses, so you will not be on your own!
If this is your first experience of road racing on the Isle of Man, we would also suggest that you try to attend one of the Incident Management Courses that are run by the TT Marshals Association (TTMA). Further details can be found at the Marshals website here.