HEALTH SECRETARY ORDERS REVIEW INTO ROLE OF PHYSICIAN ASSOCIATES IN THE NHS

CAMPAIGN FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE is proud to have played a part (with many other campaign groups & contributors) in persuading the Health Secretary Wes Streeting to order a review of what physician associates do in the NHS, amid growing alarm in the medical profession about patient safety.

The films produced by CSJ on the Physicians Associate scandal have been watched millions of times igniting a wider public debate on this issue. CSJ has also supported grass roots campaign group Anaesthetists United in its legal action against the General Medical Council (GMC) calling for nationally agreed guidance on what physician associates can and cannot do (scope of practice).

The review will examine the safety of their roles and how patients should be made aware that, despite their titles and ability to diagnose illness, they are not doctors and can only perform certain tasks.

The health secretary has appointed Prof Gillian Leng, an expert in evidence-based healthcare and the former chief executive of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, to lead the review.

About 3,500 physician associates and about 100 equivalents who work in anaesthesia - called anaesthetic associates - are already working in hospitals and GP surgeries in England. Taken together the number of "medical associate professionals" (MAPs), as they are known in the NHS, is due to treble to about 10,000 by 2037 under the service's long-term workforce plan.

Physician associates can take a patient's medical history, conduct physical examinations, analyse test results, diagnose illnesses and help draw up the plan for managing the person's condition. They do two years of training, far less than a doctor.

But there has been concern that their limited medical knowledge could lead to patients receiving poor care and also getting confused about whether they have seen a doctor or not. There have been repeated calls for their title to be changed to clarify that they are not medics.

Streeting said many physician associates provide good care and “free up doctors to do the things only doctors can do" - which was the role originally envisaged for them.

"But there are legitimate concerns over transparency for patients, scope of practice and the substituting of doctors. These concerns have been ignored for too long, leading to a toxic debate where physicians feel ignored and PAs feel demoralised.”
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​CSJ will monitor the review closely.