Government ‘dithering’ on regulating ‘dangerous rise’ in physician associates has 'harmed patients'

The government ignored expert warnings to regulate physician associates (PAs) for more than two decades and now patients have come to harm, doctors have said.

A leading doctors’ union blamed the “dithering of successive governments” for the “extremely dangerous” increase in PAs carrying out doctors’ duties.

Jeremy Hunt, then health secretary, told a House of Lords committee in 2016 that the government was “committed to introducing legislation for regulatory reform” and it was “a question of finding a parliamentary slot”, citing Brexit debates as a cause of the delay.

Seven years, two consultations and at least two deaths later, regulation of PAs is still a year away, following a series of delays that the Faculty of Physician Associates itself has called “disappointing”.

Dr Matt Kneale, co-chair of the Doctors’ Association UK, told The Telegraph the lack of regulation “poses a significant risk to both patient safety and the overall standard of care within the NHS”.
He said supervising doctors taking on the accountability for PA was not a “tenable long-term solution”.

“Regulation could and should have been introduced earlier to prevent instances of patient harm. The lack of action for over two decades is concerning and requires urgent action,” he added.

Read full story (paywalled)

Source: The Telegraph, 14 October 2023