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A union has criticised a hospital trust for “jeopardising patient safety” by issuing “highly inappropriate” instructions for resident doctors to approve prescription requests from physician associates. The British Medical Association has written to University Hospitals Plymouth Trust to raise “serious concerns about the apparent unsafe and unprofessional working arrangements” between resident doctors and physician associates at the trust. The letter comes after a leak on social media appeared to show resident doctors at one of UHP’s departments being instructed to set up a rota to sign off requests for prescriptions and imaging investigations made by a physician associate. The BMA has called for these instructions to be “urgently rescinded”. Guidance from the General Medical Council states that physician associates cannot prescribe medication, even if they held prescribing rights in a previous role. The letter to UHP’s interim chief executive Mark Hackett, from BMA council chair Phil Banfield, said the instructions “contain highly inappropriate directions to resident doctors which, if acted upon, would cause them to breach professional standards set by their regulator, risk their professional indemnity, and jeopardise patient safety. “The rules on prescribing are clear, physician associates are not qualified or legally entitled to prescribe. This is not ‘due to a number of issues’ (as claimed in the instructions) that can somehow be circumvented by the trust – it is a necessary legal restriction put in place to protect patient safety. “Our guidance (and that of the GMC) is clear that no resident doctor should automatically prescribe medications or request ionising radiation on behalf of another practitioner…. That resident doctors have been asked to organise a rota implementing such unsafe practices speaks volumes about the way they are viewed by their employer”. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 19 June 2025- Posted
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Physician associates to be renamed to stop them being mistaken for doctors
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Physician associates in the NHS will be renamed to stop patients mistaking them for doctors after a review found that their title caused widespread confusion. Thousands of physician associates who work in hospitals and GP surgeries across the UK take medical histories, examine patients and diagnose illnesses but are not doctors. However, Prof Gillian Leng, whose government-ordered review is looking into whether they pose a risk to patients’ safety, has concluded that they must be given a new name, so patients they treat are not misled into thinking they have seen a doctor, according to sources with knowledge of her thinking. Doctors who fear the term has created widespread confusion among the public and risks undermining trust in the medical profession will regard ditching it as a major victory. Wes Streeting, the health secretary, is expected to accept Leng’s recommendation and instigate the change, which could lead to physician associates being renamed “physician assistants” or “doctors’ assistants”. She will also specify in her final report, due later this month, that those who perform those roles must make clear to patients that they are assistants, not fully fledged medics. Physician associates have been implicated in several high-profile patient deaths. Earlier this year, a coroner found that in February 2024 a physician associate (PA) in the A&E at East Surrey hospital had misdiagnosed 77-year-old Pamela Marking as having a nosebleed when she had a small bowel obstruction and hernia that required emergency surgery. She returned to the hospital two days later but she died soon after. In her prevention of future deaths report the coroner, Karen Henderson, warned that the term “physician associate” was “misleading to the public” and that there was a “lack of public understanding of the role”. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 4 June 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- Posted
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GMC approves 36 courses to teach more than 1,000 NHS physician associates
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
More than 1,000 physician associates (PAs) could begin their careers in the NHS every year after regulators approved dozens of courses to teach them. The General Medical Council (GMC) said it had given 36 courses formal approval to teach PAs and anaesthesia associates (AAs). Overall, these courses had capacity for up to 1,059 PAs and 42 AAs to qualify each year. The GMC said approving training courses would mean that “patients, employers and colleagues can be assured that PAs and AAs have the required knowledge and skills to practise safely once they qualify”. Prof Colin Melville, the GMC’s medical director and director of education and standards, said: “This is an important milestone in the regulation of PAs and AAs and will provide assurance, now and in the future, that those who qualify in these roles have the appropriate skills and knowledge that patients rightly expect and deserve. “As a regulator, patient safety is paramount, and we have a robust quality assurance process for PA and AA courses, as we do for medical schools. We have been engaging with course providers for several years already, and we only grant approval where they meet our high standards.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 30 April 2025- Posted
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The BMA has submitted its response to Professor Gillian Leng’s independent review of the physician associate (PA) and anaesthesia associate (AA) professions in England. In it's submission, the BMA has urged the Government-commissioned review of physician associates to rename the role and set a national scope of practice.- Posted
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The General Medical Council (GMC) has submitted its response to Professor Gillian Leng’s independent review of the physician associate (PA) and anaesthesia associate (AA) professions in England. In its submission the regulator emphasised the importance of statutory regulation for PA and AAs because - as with any regulated healthcare profession - PAs and AAs undertake complex work that will pose some level of risk to the public, and regulation mitigates this risk. The submission also highlighted that, as the multi-professional regulator for doctors, PAs and AAs, the GMC is well placed to work with others across the health system to identify and address issues that concern all three professions. For example, the availability of supervisors and student training placements. The GMC also said that regulation is already beginning to raise standards of practice through ensuring that only those individuals with the right clinical knowledge and skills are entered onto the GMC’s registers.- Posted
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Campaigners who are taking the General Medical Council (GMC) to court alleging failure to properly regulate physician associates (PAs) and anaesthesia associates (AAs) have been cleared to submit new patient safety evidence. A judge has granted Anaesthetists United’s bid to submit two reports that were published after it began its legal case, and which the GMC had argued were inadmissible, for a judicial review in the High Court on 13 and 14 May. One report is a systematic review published in The BMJ in March 2025, which found little evidence supporting the safety and efficacy of PAs and AAs in the UK.1 The other is a coroner’s regulation 28 “prevention of future deaths” report published in February 2025, regarding the death in 2024 of Pamela Marking, who was seen by a PA and died after having a nosebleed misdiagnosed. Read full story (paywalled) Source: BMJ, 10 April 2025- Posted
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In my third year of medical school, my mother announced she wanted to become a physician associate (PA). I always encouraged her to follow her dreams — until she told me her motivation. “It’s basically the same as being a doctor, but with less time at university,” she said. Her words gave me pause. Despite years of medical training, even I wasn’t entirely sure where the line was drawn between doctors and PAs. And if I was confused, how could patients be expected to understand the difference? For some doctors, the PA role can feel less like a collaborative partnership and more like a threat to their professional identity. The British Medical Association has accused the government of using PAs as substitutes for doctors, compromising patient safety in the process. These concerns are not hypothetical.- Posted
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In November 2023 the British Medical Association (BMA) established a reporting portal for doctors and medical students to share concerns regarding the deployment of physician and anaesthesia associates in both primary and secondary care. This report includes all submissions received by February 2025 that concern patient safety. This report presents evidence of doctor substitution, doctors being coerced or pressured into signing prescriptions or ionising radiation requests for patients of whom they have no knowledge, examples of doctors losing out on basic skills training and situations where neither the public nor other healthcare staff know the role or competencies of physician and anaesthesia associates. It also highlights examples of where harm has come to patients, or been narrowly avoided only by subsequent intervention from a doctor.- Posted
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The aim of this study was to research on the efficacy and safety of UK physician associates and anaesthetic associates in the context of an ongoing policy review. The study found that UK literature on physician associates and anaesthetic associates is sparse and of variable quality, and some is outdated. In this context, the absence of evidence of safety incidents should not be misinterpreted as evidence that deployment of physician associates and anaesthetic associates is safe. Findings of apparent non-inferiority in non-randomised studies may obscure important unmeasured differences in quality of care. New research is urgently needed to explore staff concerns, examine safety incidents, and inform a national scope of practice for these relatively new and contested staff roles. The findings from this UK based study should be interpreted in the context of the wider international evidence base.- Posted
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A coroner has issued a warning about the role of physician associates in NHS hospitals after a woman with severe abdominal problems was wrongly diagnosed as having a nosebleed and died four days later. The family of Pamela Marking, 77, were under the mistaken impression she had been seen by a doctor when she was examined in an emergency department, rather than a physician associate (PA) with far less training. Surrey assistant coroner Karen Henderson has written to 12 health leaders or bodies including the UK health secretary, Wes Streeting, and NHS England expressing concerns about the “limited training” PAs have and the lack of public understanding about their roles. In a prevention of future deaths report, Henderson said Marking was taken to East Surrey hospital in Redhill on 16 February last year after she vomited blood-stained fluid and had a tender abdomen. The coroner said the PA who saw her had “a lack of understanding of the significance of abdominal pain” and sent her home the same day. Marking deteriorated, returning to the hospital two days later. She underwent surgery for complications arising from a femoral hernia but died on 20 February 2024. Henderson said the PA had acted independently in the diagnosis, treatment, management and discharge of Marking without independent oversight by a medical practitioner. The coroner said: “Given their limited training and in the absence of any national or local recognised hospital training for physician associates once appointed, this gives rise to a concern they are working outside of their capabilities.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 27 February 2025 Related 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 Prevention of future deaths report: Susan Pollitt (8 August 2024)- Posted
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Prevention of Future Deaths Report: Pamela Marking (24 February 2025)
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On 16 February 2024, Pamela Anne Marking – who was unable to give a complete history due to cognitive issues – was admitted to the Emergency Department at East Surrey Hospital from her home address after unknowingly vomiting blood-stained fluid, with right sided and suprapubic abdominal tenderness. She was diagnosed as having had an epistaxis (nosebleed) by a Physician Associate and discharged home later that afternoon without a medical review or direct medical supervision of the Physician Associate who had a lack of understanding of the significance of abdominal pain and vomiting and had undertaken an incomplete abdominal examination which would have been likely to have found a right femoral hernia. Mrs Marking re-presented to the Emergency Department two days later with grossly dilated small bowel obstruction due to an incarcerated right femoral hernia containing ischaemic bowel requiring emergency surgery later that evening. Despite maximal support Mrs Marking died at East Surrey hospital on 20th February 2024. The clinical management Mrs Marking had on her first admission and thereafter during the Rapid Sequence Induction materially contributed to her death. The medical cause of death given was: 1a Respiratory failure and Sepsis 1b Aspiration of feculent gastric contents at induction of anaesthesia 1c. Strangulated femoral hernia. Coroner's concerns 1. The term ‘Physician Associate’ is misleading to the public. Mrs Marking’s son was under the mistaken belief that the Physician Associate was a doctor by this title in circumstances where no steps were taken by the Emergency Department or the Physician Associate to explain or clearly differentiate their role from that of medically qualified practitioners. 2. Lack of public understanding of the role of Physician Associate. Witnesses from the Trust gave evidence that a Physician Associate was clinically equivalent to a Tier 2 resident doctor without evidence to support this belief. This blurring of roles without public knowledge and understanding of the role of a Physician Associate has the potential to devalue and undermine public confidence in the medical profession whilst allowing Physician Associates to potentially undertake roles outside of their competency thereby compromising patient safety. 3. The right of patients and family to seek a second opinion. The lack of public knowledge that a Physician Associate is not medically qualified has the potential to hinder requests by patients and their relatives who would wish to seek an opinion from a medical practitioner. It also raises issues of informed consent and protection of patient rights if the public are not aware or have not been properly informed that they are being treated by a Physician Associate rather than a medically qualified doctor. 4. Lack of national and local guidelines and regulation of the scope of practice for a Physician Associate. A diagnosis of epistaxis was made by the Physician Associate without appreciating the relevance of the vomiting and lower abdominal discomfort and in the absence of understanding the need to undertake palpation of the groins in an abdominal examination in a patient who was unable to give a proper clinical history because of short term memory loss. No evidence was presented that the management of Mrs Marking was subject to a reflective practice review. Given their limited training and in the absence of any national or local recognised hospital training for Physician Associates once appointed, this gives rise to a concern they are working outside of their capabilities. 5. Lack of guidelines for direct supervision and consideration of an appropriate level of autonomy for Physician Associates. Whilst there were discussions with the ‘supervising’ consultant the Physician Associate was effectively acting independently in the diagnosis, treatment, management and discharge of Mrs Marking without independent oversight by a medical practitioner. This gives rise to a concern that inadequate supervision or excessive delegation of undifferentiated patients in the Emergency Department to Physician Associates compromises patient safety. 6. Lack of ‘Updated’ National Guidelines for Rapid Sequence Induction (RSI) of Anaesthesia for emergency surgery. Mrs Marking required a rapid sequence induction to protect her airway from aspiration of bowel contents as a consequence of small bowel obstruction. The consultant anaesthetist gave evidence that the ‘traditional’ use of consecutive syringes of induction agent and muscle relaxant was obsolete, and it was common practice locally and nationally to routinely undertake a RSI with Total Intravenous Anaesthesia, in the absence of updated local or national guidelines to support this practice. 7. Lack of ‘Updated’ National Guidelines to support the use of TIVA for RSI. Other than empirically increasing the rate of infusion of TIVA agents (Propofol and Remifentanil) no evidence was forthcoming as to the target range required to ensure and confirm an adequate depth of anaesthesia for patients or the length of time required prior to and following the administration of a muscle relaxant (Rocuronium) to facilitate intubation. This is despite TIVA being known to provide a slower onset of anaesthesia and approximately 50% of all anaesthetic related deaths are due to aspiration (NAP 4). 8. Lack of ‘Updated’ Guidelines for use of Cricoid pressure and other measures to protect the airway in a RSI anaesthetic. Evidence was heard that as cricoid pressure was ineffective it was not routinely applied for a RSI intubation. After aspiration on Induction, the only suction device was attached to the nasogastric tube giving rise to a possible delay in timely suctioning of the feculent aspirate which was in excess of two litres after intubation was achieved.- Posted
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The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Wes Streeting MP, has established an independent review of the physician associate (PA) and anaesthesia associate (AA) professions to consider the safety of the roles, their contribution to multidisciplinary healthcare teams and make recommendations to inform future government policy. This call for evidence seeking analysis and research to support this review. The deadline for responding is 11:59pm on 21 March 2025.- Posted
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BMA challenge to GMC on 'medical professionals' term goes to court
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
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. Read full story 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- Posted
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This document sets out details of the independent review of the physician associate and anaesthesia associate professions commissioned by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on the 20 November 2024. Led by Professor Gillian Leng CBE, this review will help to inform the refreshed workforce plan that the UK Government has committed to publish in summer 2025.- Posted
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Ban physician associates from seeing NHS patients one-to-one, says RCP
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The NHS in England should slow or scrap altogether the recruitment of physician associates (PAs) and ban them from seeing patients one-to-one, medical groups are urging ministers. The Royal College of Physicians (RCP), which represents hospital doctors, has called for a rethink of government plans to increase the number of PAs from 3,000 to 10,000 by the mid-2030s. They should also not be allowed to run clinics on their own, without a senior doctor present, because left unsupervised they could pose a risk to patients’ safety, the RCP added. “We’re calling on NHS England to slow down the expansion of the PA role [and] review its projections for growth in the PA workforce,” said an RCP spokesperson. While the college is not proposing exactly how many more PAs the NHS should train and hire in coming years, it “believes their growth should be carefully managed” and NHS England needs to take “a more measured approach” to recruiting and using them. Its move comes weeks after Wes Streeting ordered an independent investigation into the role and competence of PAs, after a series of cases in which patients they treated came to harm. They include Emily Chesterton who died after her blood clot was misdiagnosed by a PA as a calf strain. The health secretary said the review, by Prof Gillian Leng, was needed because “there are legitimate concerns over transparency for patients, scope [of PAs’ role] and the substituting of [them for] doctors. These concerns have been ignored for too long.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 17 December 2024- Posted
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The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) has published new interim guidance on the scope, supervision and employment of physician associates (PAs) working in the medical specialties (also known as the physician specialties). The interim guidance covers scope of practice for general internal medicine, supervision and employment of PAs, and how PAs should describe their role to patients, employers, other healthcare professionals and the public. It will be reviewed in collaboration with stakeholders, including RCP fellows and members, following the publication of the report of the Leng review. In the guidance, the RCP is clear that: PAs must support – not replace – doctors, have a nationally defined ceiling of practice, and have a clearly defined role in the multidisciplinary team (MDT). PAs must never function as a senior decision maker, nor should they decide whether a patient is admitted or discharged from hospital. Resident doctors are not, and must not be expected or asked to be, responsible for the clinical supervision of PAs. PAs should only be supervised by consultants, specialist or associate specialist doctors. PAs cannot prescribe medications regardless of any prior healthcare background while working as a PA. PAs must clearly explain their role to patients, their families and carers, as well as colleagues and supervisors, and provide details of their educational and clinical supervision when required.- Posted
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The General Medical Council (GMC) will begin regulating physician associates (PAs) and anaesthesia associates (AAs) from this Friday, 13 December. Registration for PAs and AAs will open from Monday, 16 December. A small number will receive an invitation to apply for registration before the end of the month, and all PAs and AAs on existing voluntary registers will have received their invitations by the end of January 2025. There are thought to be around 5,000 PAs and 200 AAs in the UK. From December 2026 it will be an offence to practise as a PA or AA in the UK without registration. To join the register of PAs and AAs, individuals will need to complete an application and provide evidence, including their qualifications and, where relevant, work history and references, to show they meet the GMC’s standards. GMC Chief Executive Charlie Massey said: "We are looking forward to becoming the regulator of these professions and I am sure it will also be an exciting time for them. I have met many physician associates and anaesthesia associates in recent months and have seen how they work with doctors and others in teams providing excellent care for patients. ‘There have been challenges along the way, but we are about to see a step change in regulation. For the first time, patients, employers and colleagues will be assured that physician associates and anaesthesia associates have the necessary education and training, meet our standards, and can be held to account if serious concerns are raised." Source: General Medical Council, 12 December 2024 -
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Irish medical regulator says regulating physician associates is outside its remit
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The Medical Council, the medical regulator for Ireland, has announced that it believes it is not the appropriate body to regulate physician associates (PAs)—in sharp contrast to the position in the UK where the General Medical Council takes on this role from 13 December. The role of PA was introduced in Ireland in 2016 by the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland’s School of Medicine which offers the only masters in physician associate studies in the Republic of Ireland. To date, 76 PAs have graduated from the two year programme with 60% working in public hospitals and 40% employed by the private sector. The GMC estimates that there are around 5000 PAs and 200 anaesthetic associates (AAs) in the UK. PAs are not yet subject to statutory regulation in Ireland but there is a managed voluntary register, which lists all fully qualified PAs who successfully fit the criteria to practise as a PA in the Republic. The register is designed to provide public protection and safety and is managed by the Irish Society of Physician Associates. In a position statement2 published on 3 December, the Medical Council said it was not the appropriate regulatory body for PAs. “The Medical Practitioners Act 2007 has no provision to regulate health professionals other than doctors,” said the statement. “The Medical Council’s primary purpose is to protect the public by setting high standards of professional conduct, education, training, and competence among doctors.” The council also said there was potential for emerging patient safety risks arising from confusion for patients, as observed recently in the UK. Read full story Source: The BMJ, 12 December 2024 Further reading on the hub: Physician associates: What are the patient safety issues? An interview with Asif Qasim- Posted
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This was a debate in the House of Lords on the 5 December 2024 considering what the review, announced by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on 20 November, of the physician associate (PA) and anaesthetist associate (AA) roles will cover and what actions they plan to take in advance of the outcome. Key points raised by peers in this debate included: The remit of the review, and whether this should extend to consider the impact of the PA role on training opportunities for resident doctors and the “taskification” of medicine. With the Government having announced that the review will be published in spring 2025, wherever any interim measures will be put in place in the meantime to address patient safety concerns relating to PA and AA roles. A suggestion that it is time to pause the recruitment of PA and AA roles and to halt the expansion of their numbers, particularly until after the Government review reports. Concerns that individual cases have been cited to then equate the lack of patient safety with all PAs or AAs. The value of the NHS undertaking a refreshed national public campaign to raise awareness of PAs and what they do. Responding to comments in the debate on behalf of the Government, Baroness Merron (Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Patient Safety, Women's Health and Mental Health) stated the following points: The Government review will cover training, recruitment, day-to-day work, oversight, supervision and professional regulation. It will assess the safety of the PA and AA roles relative to existing professions, the contribution that the roles can make to more productive use of professional time in multidisciplinary teams and whether the roles deliver good-quality and efficient patient care in a range of settings. All the above matters, among others that peers have raised in this debate today, will be considered as part of the review. On interim action, she noted that NHS guidance remains in place on PA and AA deployment while the review is ongoing. Furthermore, NHS England continues to engage with NHS organisations to ensure that this guidance is adhered to. You can watch the debate in full here. Related reading Government launches independent review of Physician and Anaesthesia Associate professions (20 November 2024) Physician associates: What are the patient safety issues? An interview with Asif Qasim (12 November 2024)- Posted
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Recent guidance from both the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) and the British Medical Association (BMA) has sparked significant discussion about Physician Associates (PAs) in general practice. While headlines might seem concerning, this blog aims to break things down for primary care managers. -
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Upcoming regulation will hold physician associates and anaesthesia associates to higher standards, ensuring safer patient care and stronger accountability while addressing doctors’ concerns on team integration; however, there is still more to be which requires our collective energy to find solutions that deliver for all those who work in our health services, and ultimately for all those who rely on them for their care.- Posted
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Government launches independent review of Physician and Anaesthesia Associate professions
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An independent review of Physician Associates (PAs) and Anaesthesia Associates (AAs) has been launched by the Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting today to consider how these roles are deployed across the health system, in order to ensure that patients get the highest standards of care. Professor Gillian Leng CBE will independently lead the review. The review will look into the safety of these roles, how they support wider health teams, and their place in providing patients with good quality and efficient care. It will also look at how effectively these roles are deployed in the NHS, while offering recommendations on how new roles should work in the future. It will consider the scope of PA and AA roles, which currently include gathering medical histories, performing initial examinations, organising tests to support doctors and reviewing patients before surgery. To increase transparency in these roles, the review will also look into measures to ensure patients know when they are interacting with PAs or AAs, so they are clear on the type of clinician they are seeing and for what reason. The review and next steps will be published in the Spring. Read full story Source: Department of Health and Social Care, 20 November 2024 Related reading: Physician associates: What are the patient safety issues? An interview with Asif Qasim- Posted
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PA employers must provide references to support registration
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Employers of physician associates (PAs) will be required to provide a reference and an insurance and indemnity declaration as part of a PA’s application for registration with the GMC. The regulation of PAs by the GMC is set to begin on 13 December, with registration open from 16 December. However, registration will not be legally required for another two years to allow for a transition period. In a letter to employers last week, the GMC said PAs will need to provide a range of evidence to demonstrate knowledge, skills and behaviour to provide safe patient care. It said this would include an employer reference and an insurance and indemnity declaration. The GMC clarified that this reference will need to be completed and signed by a supervising clinician who has oversight of the PA’s practice, which is likely to be the supervising GP. ‘We’d be grateful if you could support this process by making sure PAs, AAs [Anaesthesia Associates] and their supervisors are aware of and prepared for this requirement and requests that they may receive,’ said the letter. PAs who have practised within the last five years will need an employer reference covering the most recent three months of employment. Supervisors will be provided with a specific form to complete, sign and date. It added that most PAs will have indemnity cover under their employer’s scheme, but they will need to sign a declaration saying they have this in place when they apply for registration. Read full story Source: Management in Practice, 4 November 2024 -
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Health Secretary Wes Streeting said there are “legitimate concerns” over the role of physician associates (PAs) amid worries they are being used to replace fully-qualified doctors. He said he wanted to look into the issues around the roles before a planned expansion in the number of medical associates. Mr Streeting acknowledged there were concerns around the tasks PAs were doing and transparency, with patients not necessarily realising they were not being treated by a doctor. There has been an ongoing debate within the NHS about the use of such roles, with the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges calling for a review into PAs and anaesthesia associates (AAs) to “clarify claims around their safety and usefulness in patient-facing roles”. Mr Streeting told BBC Breakfast: “I am taking these concerns seriously and I’ve spent a lot of time listening to clinicians, listening to physician associates as well, by the way. “I think they do have a role to play and can add value, not least in freeing up doctors’ time to do the things that only doctors can do. “But I think there are legitimate concerns about the extent of doctor substitution and replacing doctors with PAs, there are issues around transparency. “As patients, we should know who we’re seeing, who’s in front of us and why, and we’ve got to take those issues seriously.” Mr Streeting said he would be saying more about the associate roles “in the coming weeks”, hinting an expansion in the number of the roles could be paused while work is carried out to address concerns. Read full story Source: Medscape, 13 November 2024 Read our interview this week with Asif Qasim, Consultant Cardiologist and Founder of MedShr, about the role of physician associates in the NHS and the patient safety issues.- Posted
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'My wife died because the NHS used cheap labour'
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
A man whose wife died after a drain was mistakenly left in her abdomen for 21 hours has condemned the increased use of physician associates (PAs) within the NHS Susan Pollitt's inquest concluded her death at Royal Oldham Hospital in July 2023 had been caused by an "unnecessary medical procedure contributed to by neglect". Roy Pollitt did not know his 77-year-old wife was being treated by a PA - who are only required to have two years' medical training - and believes "she would have lived if the NHS had not used cheap labour". The coroner who examined Mrs Pollitt's death highlighted the lack of a national framework covering PAs' training, supervision and competency assessment. Associates were introduced in the NHS 21 years ago with the expectation they would support doctors by delivering basic care. Over the past two years the number of associates has more than doubled to 3,000. According to the NHS Long Term Plan, there will be 12,000 physician and anaesthetic associates by 2036. Health Secretary Wes Streeting said there were "legitimate concerns" about the role of PAs before the expansion. Fears have been expressed that some have been acting beyond their original remit. Read full story Source: BBC News, 13 November 2024 Read our interview this week with Asif Qasim, Consultant Cardiologist and Founder of MedShr, about the role of physician associates in the NHS and the patient safety issues.- Posted
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