Doctors push back on increased use of physician associates

Doctors are increasingly concerned about the rise in numbers and use of physician associates (PAs) – medical practitioners who have only two years of training. Last week in an emergency meeting members of the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) passed a motion calling for a limit to the pace and scale of the rollout of PAs. Physician associates do not have medical degrees but are increasingly put in roles that would traditionally be taken by doctors, including at GP surgeries. They are unregulated except by a voluntary national register, leaving the scope of practice largely up to employers. Some physicians say this creates the potential for harm to patients. But there is little the RCP can do to affect PAs already in employment or government plans to ramp up recruitment.