BMA challenge to GMC on 'medical professionals' term goes to court

A legal challenge brought by leading doctors against the medical regulator amid rising concerns over the use of physician associates is due to reach court. 

The British Medical Association (BMA) is bringing a case at the High Court in London against the General Medical Council (GMC), accusing the regulator of abandoning its responsibilities to patients' safety by blurring the lines between doctors and non-doctors.

The BMA claims the GMC has been using the term "medical professionals" to describe all those it regulates – doctors as well as physician and anaesthesia associates (PAs and AAs). The association says the term should only be used to refer to qualified doctors. The BMA maintains that PAs and AAs are neither doctors nor medically qualified, with the distinction crucial to patient safety.

It says there is evidence of widespread confusion in the public as to the roles of associates.

The GMC has stated that each profession type is prominently labelled on its public-facing registers, and in search functions, meaning that when patients search its registers it will be clear whether someone is a doctor, a PA, or an AA.

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Source: Medscape, 12 February 2025

Further reading on the hub:

• Physician associates: What are the patient safety issues? An interview with Asif Qasim
• Partha Kar: We need a pause to assess safety concerns surrounding Physician Associates