The Paramedic about to join CHC as a trainee winchman is an experienced Air Ambulance Paramedic. He has flown on at least 15 occasions with SAR helicopters and been winched many times. He has a genuine desire to be an SAR winchman and CHC will benefit from his enthusiasm. He will be paid on exactly the same pay scale as his colleagues. His training will be bespoke; it will largely consist of sorties where the content will be exclusively tailored to his needs. He will be tutored by a team of 3 highly experienced ex military rearcrew instructors. It is estimated that he will have about 80 hours in role by the end of course completion (this is similar to SARTU today and is the SAR-H requirement for winchmen). Finally, he will not go solo on shift until everyone including himself believes that he is ready.
I have said it before: Brit mil SAR is one of the most professional in the world but it would be a world class level of arrogance to presume that others cannot attain that same standard with the correct level of training.