One day in class. A card that works worldwide.
We are the only ITLS training centre in the United Kingdom.
There are two ITLS chapters here, but if you want to sit an ITLS course in this country, you sit it with us.
International Trauma Life Support runs through more than 130 chapters and training centres in over 50 countries. It was founded in 1982 off the back of a grant from the American College of Emergency Physicians, and has trained over 931,000 people since.
We are one of those 130 centres, and the only one in Britain. That status is not something a training provider can simply buy — ITLS requires every chapter and training centre to be sponsored or managed by an established organisation, and will not accept applications from individuals at all.
It teaches one thing properly: find the injuries that will kill your patient in the next few minutes, and deal with them in the right order. The ITLS patient assessment algorithm was used as the foundation of the United States Department of Transportation’s National Standard Curriculum, which is taught to paramedics, EMTs and emergency medical responders across America.
The card travels, and often that is the whole point. A good many people come to us not because they want trauma training but because an employer, an operator, an agency or a contract has named ITLS specifically, and they need the certification to be eligible for the work. That is a perfectly good reason to be here.
An ITLS Provider card is recognised in more than 50 countries, which means it holds its value when you move between employers, sectors and borders — offshore, maritime, military, security contracting, overseas deployment, or an NHS role where the department has standardised on it. You are not buying a certificate that works in one place.
If someone has told you that you need ITLS, this is where you get it. In Britain, it is the only place you can.
One route, deliberately
ITLS offers several ways to reach Provider certification. We run one, because it is the best of them.
You complete ITLS eTrauma online, directly with ITLS, at your own pace. Then you come to us for a one-day Completer course, where you do the skills, the practical testing and the written exam. Pass, and you leave with your ITLS Provider card.
The alternative is a sixteen-hour classroom Provider course — two full days, half of it sitting listening to theory. We stopped running it. The blended route costs less, takes one day out of your roster instead of two, and lets you take the theory in your own time rather than at the pace of whoever else is in the room.
What it costs, start to finish
£295 for your Completer day with us.
US$125 for ITLS eTrauma with the manual, paid directly to ITLS. We never touch it, so there is no handling fee and no mark-up. ITLS bills international orders in US dollars, so what that costs you in sterling depends on the exchange rate and your card on the day.
Even with the eTrauma fee added, that lands below a two-day PHTLS course in the UK, which typically runs between £446 and £495 — and that is before a second night away and a second day off the roster.
Already booked on our HSE Offshore Medic course? Add ITLS Provider for £192 rather than £295. Your offshore course already covers much of the same clinical ground and you are already here with us, so you keep the difference. This rate is for offshore medic learners only. See the HSE Offshore Medic course.
Your certification lasts three years. You earn eight hours of continuing education credit from eTrauma and another eight from the Completer day.
Why ITLS, and why here
Four things decide this for most people, and only one of them is clinical.
The certification is international. This is the real reason to choose ITLS. Our own Pre-Hospital Trauma Management course is a strong UK trauma qualification endorsed by the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, and for a UK-only role it is an excellent choice. What it is not is globally recognised. If you need a trauma certification that will be accepted offshore, overseas, by the military or by an employer who names an international standard, ITLS is the one that travels.
One day in class, not two. The blended route puts the theory online and keeps the classroom for skills and testing.
It costs less. £295 to us plus the ITLS eTrauma fee, against the £446 to £495 a two-day UK trauma course at this level typically runs — and one day off the roster instead of two.
There is nowhere else to do it. We are the only ITLS training centre in the United Kingdom.
ITLS and PHTLS
PHTLS is the other internationally recognised pre-hospital trauma programme, endorsed by the American College of Surgeons where ITLS is endorsed by the American College of Emergency Physicians. Both are credible. They differ in how they teach assessment.
ITLS is built around a Rapid Trauma Survey and an explicit “Load and Go” decision, so that time is not lost at scene. The primary survey is designed to be completed in under two minutes. Testing is a 50-question written paper, set separately for Basic and Advanced candidates, alongside scenario-based practical assessment. The ITLS assessment algorithm was adopted as the foundation of the United States Department of Transportation’s National Standard Curriculum.
Rather than give you our own view of a competitor, ITLS publish a detailed side-by-side comparison of the two programmes. Read the ITLS comparison of ITLS and PHTLS (PDF, published by ITLS). It is ITLS’s own document and makes ITLS’s own case, which is exactly why we would rather you read it from the source than take our word for it.
Step one: ITLS eTrauma. This is mandatory.
You must complete ITLS eTrauma before you attend. It is not optional, not something we can waive, and not something you can catch up on the day. It is the theory half of ITLS Provider certification, and without it there is nothing for us to sign off. If you arrive without your completion certificate we cannot test you, and you will have lost the day.
What you need to achieve before you come to us:
- Work through all eighteen lessons of eTrauma, in the Basic or Advanced version matching the level you intend to certify at
- Pass the end-of-course assessment
- Download and keep your eTrauma completion certificate, and bring it with you
It is self-paced, so you can do it over a few evenings or in one sitting. On completion you also bank eight hours of continuing education credit.
Where to buy eTrauma
You buy it directly from ITLS, not from us. We take no fee and add no mark-up. UK learners count as international customers and must order through the ITLS International Bookstore — not through Pearson, which serves the United States only.
Prices correct as at 22 October 2026. ITLS bills international orders in US dollars and adds tax where applicable, so the sterling amount depends on the exchange rate and your card. ITLS confirms the exact figure at checkout. Both purchases are non-refundable. Everything is digital — the access code and the eTextbook arrive by email, so there is nothing to ship, nothing to wait for in the post and no customs to clear.
Two things that catch people out
Buy the right version. eTrauma comes in Basic and Advanced and the exam questions differ between them, so this choice sets the level you can certify at. If you want Advanced, buy Advanced. Both purchases are marked non-refundable by ITLS, so a wrong choice costs you the full amount again. If you are not certain which level your scope of practice supports, ring us before you buy anything. That conversation takes two minutes.
Order it early. ITLS staff fulfil international orders by hand, so the access code is emailed within three to five working days rather than instantly. Then you need your own time for eighteen lessons. Order at least a fortnight before your Completer date, and preferably a month.
