‘Doctors being side-lined and professional responsibilities blurred

Matt Kneale — Fri, 05 Sep 2025 18:38:00 +0000

The Doctors’ Association UK (DAUK) has warned that doctors are being side-lined and professional responsibilities blurred. DAUK fears a new competencies framework represents the creeping substitution of doctors with other healthcare professionals (HCPs). The recently published National Capabilities Framework for Professionals who care for Children and Young People with Asthma sets out a five-tier structure of competencies.

Professional responsibilities

At the lowest tier, GP receptionists, childcare staff, and teachers will provide ‘basic asthma awareness’ and signposting. GPs, resident doctors, and emergency department doctors are listed in tier three out of the five. They can ‘diagnose, assess, and manage acute and chronic asthma’ and ‘address factors that contribute to poor control’, the document states. At the higher levels of four and five, paediatricians with special interest, advanced nurse practitioners, tertiary paediatrician, and allied health professional (AHP) member of the asthma multidisciplinary team (MDT) are listed.

Replacing doctors

Dr Neena Jha, a member of DAUK’s GP committee and a GP in Hertfordshire, said the framework represented the direction of travel under the Government’s 10-year NHS plan. Posting on X, formerly Twitter, Dr Jha said the plan was ‘dismantling the practice of medicine’ and would ‘replace doctors with other HCP “to deliver task-based care”’. In a second post on X, she said: “In short, the Government’s 10 year NHS plan is to replace doctors with other HCP at scale.” Dr Alison George, who is also a member of the DAUK GP committee, said the document represented ‘taskification and tiered care in all its glory’ in a post on X.

Private healthcare

She added in a separate post on the social media website: “Private healthcare providers are circling with excitement. “Many are already embedded in the NHS, and Department of Health and NHS England’s doctor replacement policy opens up opportunities for more. “Very soon it will be impossible to guarantee doctor-led care unless you pay/have insurance.” The framework was initially highlighted on X by acute physician Dr Louella Vaughan. Dr Vaughan said: “Here is an example of what is coming.

Tasks and tiers

“The whole of medicine, broken down into tasks and tiers. “No need for knowledge. No need for expertise. “Brought to you by Health Education England.” DAUK is led by frontline doctors for frontline doctors. Please support our work by joining DAUK or donating to our GoFundMe.

Jenny Vaughan Memorial Prize winner

Matt Kneale — Tue, 20 May 2025 13:09:44 +0000

The winner of the inaugural Jenny Vaughan Memorial Prize is Dr Neena Jha.

DAUK asked for creative submissions that embodied Learn Not Blame, which Dr Vaughan advocated for in the NHS.

Dr Jha, a GP based in Hertfordshire, won the prize for her poem Who failed them? which is available to read below.

Jenny Vaughan Memorial Prize

Dr Jha was presented with her prize by Dr Vaughan’s husband, Matt Dunckley, at DAUK’s conference in London on Saturday. She receives £450.

She said: “Thank you so much to the DAUK for organising a fantastic event and giving us the opportunity to talk about an issue that affects all of us health care workers in the NHS.”

Another entry for the Jenny Vaughan Memorial Prize, a long-read essay by Dr Adesh Ajmani, is available to read on our Substack.

Please support our work by joining DAUK or donating to our GoFundMe.

Who failed them?

The bleeps keep coming, one by one,
No space to rest, no job feels done.
A constant battle- which call to take?
Which soul to save? Which one must wait?

I’m firefighting, no-one else but me,
Alone on a rota where there should be three.
Yet when the worst comes true and tragedy lands,
They ask why blood is on my hands.

The headlines point, they scream my name,
A scapegoat held up to take the blame.
They write, “The doctor should be condemned”
But they never ask, “Who failed them?”

We saw the risks, we warned, we cried,
But they turned us away, cast out fears aside.
“More staff, more funds – lives are at stake!”
Yet they ignored us, chose to look away.

“Work with less”, they shrugged, “there’s nothing we can do”
“Just try your best – we believe in you.”
Their words ring hollow as lives are lost,
Then it’s my name they sacrifice, at any cost.

They lie, say the mistakes are mine,
Ignoring the flaws in the wider design.
How do we prevent this? How do we learn?
When cracks are ignored and whistleblowers spurned?

No more blame – I will not bear
The weight of those who did not care.
Change must come, it must start now,
Not with empty words, but with a vow-

To learn, to listen, to grow without shame,
Not for one to take a system’s blame.
With real change in this time of need,
We have spoken enough – let actions lead.

Dr Neena Jha

Dr Neena Jha – DAUK