Responding to the attempt by the GMC to make regulation of PAs less restrictive as reported in the Telegraph, Prof Phil Banfield, BMA chair of council said:

"Robust national scopes of practice are the basis of any solution to the dangers to patient safety raised by the way PAs are currently employed in the NHS. It has been worrying to see the GMC, a patient safety regulator, resist all calls to publish its take on the Royal Colleges' attempt to set these scopes. As it begins to regulate PAs, the public deserves to know what it thinks they can and can't do.

"After refusing to release these opinions for months it tried to do so quietly just before Christmas. It is now clear why it wanted to hide them. They have astonishingly tried to claim that national scopes of practice should not be "burdensome and restrictive" on PAs in case it might lead to employers thinking twice before hiring them.

"The GMC will need to explain why it is pressuring royal colleges to set laxer standards for PAs in order to make them easier to hire.  

"Let's be clear: patient safety should be the only priority when defining what PAs can do, not their employment prospects. Keeping patients safe is not burdensome - it is essential.

"The GMC goes to extraordinary lengths to control which doctors can enter postgraduate training and the clinical standards for doctors to be regarded as a fully trained general practitioner or consultant, but has washed its hands when it comes to PAs. It is difficult to imagine another regulator saying proper safeguards are too much of a burden over such a fundamental safety issue."

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.