BMA stance on physician associates impacting patient confidence, warns Health Education England

Health Education England (HEE) and NHS England have warned BMA that its stance on medical associate professionals (MAPs) is impacting NHS relationships and patient confidence.

HEE published an open letter to the BMA in response to the union’s call to halt recruitment of MAPs – which includes physician associates (PAs) working in general practice – until regulation is in place.

The BMA Council passed a motion calling for a halt to recruitment of MAPs two weeks ago, on the grounds of patient safety. This followed a previous motion to that effect from its GP committee for England earlier this month.

Proposing to bring forward a planned meeting with the BMA to discuss the matter, HEE’s letter said: "This continuing public discourse around MAPs is impacting relations between your members and their MAP colleagues, the health and wellbeing of MAPs already working in the NHS, and potentially the confidence of patients."

HEE chief workforce, training and education officer Dr Navina Evans and NHS England medical director Sir Stephen Powis argued in the letter that evidence shows "MAPs are safe", and that they "increase the breadth of skill, capacity and flexibility of teams" and reduce workload pressure on other clinicians.

‘Any issues of patient safety identified resulting from MAPs ‘must be addressed in the same way we would any other profession’, the letter added.

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Source: Pulse, 27 November 2023