Many doctors are concerned about the growing number of ways in which PAs are being used in general practice and the impact on patient safety, reports Sarah Graham
In June, the Royal College of General Practitioners called for a halt to the recruitment of PAs into general practice until they are better regulated. As far as Dave Hay knew, he was seeing a GP. It was 2022 and he’d started having bouts of dizziness, brain fog and fatigue. “It was having an impact on my work and everyday life, so I called my local surgery to make an appointment.
PAs, or physician associates, are a relatively new type of health professional, first introduced in the UK in 2003 and increasingly used across the NHS to provide care to patients, including at GP surgeries. They undergo two years of postgraduate training .by 2037, but the scheme has become controversial following a series of reports of patients being misdiagnosed, some with fatal consequences.
But many doctors are concerned about the growing number of ways in which they are being used in general practice, and the impact this is having – both on patient care and safety, and on GP employment. In June, the Royal College of General Practitioners called for a halt to the recruitment of PAs into general practice until they are better regulated.
The Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme , introduced in 2019 by NHS England, has seen an increase in the employment of PAs, pharmacists, paramedics, physios and other allied health professionals within local surgeries. In theory, these additional roles are there to lighten the load, and shouldn’t come at the expense of patients having access to a GP when needed.
There are, she adds, ways in which PAs, pharmacists and other non-GP colleagues can be used much more effectively to ease the pressure on general practice. But it’s through things like follow-ups, medication reviews and long-term care, not initial diagnoses when so much more is at stake. “In order to do so safely, they would need to be fully supervised,” she adds.
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