Adding : airmanship / aircraft knowledge / winch training is about the only additional training required of a paramedic - no?
Aircraft knowledge - 2 weeks minimum
Winch training - 9 months would be needed to firstly become a proficient helicopter crewman and then convert to being a winchman who is competent in all the different aspects of the role
Airmanship - how long is a piece of string?
Remember - once you let a winchman loose on operations he's on his own. It's not like the co-pilot who gets mentored for a long time before shuffling across to the right-hand seat. As soon as the new winchman is qualified he's in at the deep end and the rest of the crew are relying upon him to come up with the goods. The DFT specification is that any winchman recruited is to have had
at least 3 months experience in a military or civilian SAR unit. I don't see how your average road ambulance paramedic will meet that quality control requirement.