Responding to the start of regulation of PAs and AAs by the GMC, Prof Phil Banfield, BMA chair of council said:

“Tomorrow the doctors’ regulator, the GMC, starts regulating non-doctors, as it opens for voluntary registration of Anaesthesia Associates (AAs) and Physician Associates (PAs), yet it does so without any national agreement being in place about what AAs and PAs can and cannot do safely beyond their basic assessment at graduation from their two year course, and with the public and patients no wiser about their role or the extent of the care they can provide.

"The Health Secretary himself has acknowledged that doctors’ concerns are legitimate, and yet system leaders have pushed on as if nothing has changed.

“Even with a government review underway into the many safety issues that have been raised with the way associates are employed and how they will be regulated, there is no sense of urgency from the GMC, NHS England and employing hospitals and trusts to introduce practical safety measures to reassure patients they will be safe in the meantime.  Neither doctors nor patients will be any more assured tomorrow than today.

“The government’s decision to press ahead with GMC regulation further blurs the lines between doctors and these associate professionals. This undermines the founding purpose of the GMC, which is to properly distinguish who is, and who is not a medical practitioner,  practising medicine to national standards set by Royal Colleges and the GMC who oversee the quality and standard of postgraduate medical training.

“MAPs are not doctors, but they can be a valued part of the healthcare workforce as the medical assistants that the NHS could rightly benefit from if they can work in the right regulatory environment, one that makes clear where the lines are. They too deserve better than this imprudent approach from the GMC and NHS England, which should have been clarified months ago.”

 

Notes to editors

The BMA is a professional association and trade union representing and negotiating on behalf of all doctors in the UK. A leading voice advocating for outstanding health care and a healthy population. An association providing members with excellent individual services and support throughout their lives.