Streeting taking concerns over physician associates ‘very seriously’

The Health Secretary has said he is taking “very seriously” concerns around physician associates (PAs) being used as substitute doctors.

Wes Streeting 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.

PAs are graduates – usually with a health or life sciences degree – who have undertaken two years of postgraduate training.

They have hit the headlines in recent years following the deaths of several patients who were treated by PAs.

The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges is among those calling for a review into PAs and anaesthesia associates (AAs) to “clarify claims around their safety and usefulness in patient-facing roles”.

The Health Secretary said: “I’m taking very seriously the concern that’s being expressed about physician associates, particularly in relation to doctor substitution, scope of practice and transparency for patients.

“I actually think physician associates have a role to play and I don’t want to throw the baby out with the bath water as we address those concerns, but I’m increasingly convinced there are legitimate concerns that we need to look into.

“We’ll have more to say on that shortly.”

The role of PAs is to support doctors in the diagnosis and management of patients, and they can be deployed across GP surgeries and hospitals.

Earlier, 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.”

Under the NHS long-term workforce plan the number of associates will expand from around 3,500 at present to 10,000 physician associates and 2,000 anaesthesia associates by 2036/37.

Mr Streeting said: “Before we put the foot down on the accelerator to expand the number of roles, I think we also firstly need to take stock on where we are, dive deeply into some of the challenges that are being put to us by the medical profession about the deployment of these roles, because I need to assure myself, in order to assure the country, that we’ve got the right people in the right place doing the right thing.”