{"id":1221,"date":"2024-03-14T14:06:16","date_gmt":"2024-03-14T14:06:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/physician-associates-expansion-of-roles-risk-to-patient-safety\/"},"modified":"2024-03-14T14:06:16","modified_gmt":"2024-03-14T14:06:16","slug":"physician-associates-expansion-of-roles-risk-to-patient-safety","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/physician-associates-expansion-of-roles-risk-to-patient-safety\/","title":{"rendered":"Physician associates: Expansion of roles &#8216;risk to patient safety&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The co-chair of the Doctors\u2019 Association UK contributed to a national radio debate on physician associates (PAs) and told listeners the expansion of their roles is a \u2018significant risk to patient safety\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ms Helen Fernandes said PAs had a part to play in the NHS but said they had \u2018mushroomed\u2019 and taken on doctors\u2019 roles and that patients were not aware.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She was interviewed on the Iain Dale programme on LBC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ms Fernandes said: &#8220;Any criticism we have of physician associate roles is not personal to those that are currently in that role.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt\u2019s rather the way that role has morphed over time, mushroomed somewhat out of control, and developed now into a situation where PAs are being substituted into roles traditionally only populated by a doctor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe medical profession feels that this is a significant risk to patient safety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cPatients are seeing individuals they think are qualified and trained doctors. They\u2019re not. They\u2019re PAs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bma.org.uk\/bma-media-centre\/bma-sets-out-first-national-guidance-for-the-role-and-responsibilities-of-physician-associates-in-major-intervention-for-patient-safety\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">new BMA publication<\/a> is the first time ever, despite law being passed that the GMC will be their regulator in the future, that we\u2019ve actually begun to ask what can a PA safely do for our patients?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.dauk.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Helen-Fernandes-pic-bw.jpg\" alt=\"Head and shoulders image of DAUK co-chair Ms Helen Fernandes\" class=\"wp-image-6669\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><strong>DAUK co-chair Helen Fernandes<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ms Fernandes also spoke about the training and experience needed to be a PA compared to that of a doctor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cCurrently, if you want to do a PA course you have to have an undergraduate degree that has some sort of science background,\u201d she told LBC listeners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cYou will then spend two years in a master\u2019s degree. Some would question whether it\u2019s equivalent to what we would normally think of as a master\u2019s degree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThen you are a qualified PA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWith that qualification you can be appointed to a role where you will see patients in a GP practice by yourself for the first time, for which a doctor would have to undergo a five year medical degree and 10 years of post-graduate education \u2013 10 years altogether before you can independently see the patients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe qualifications, the training, the experience doesn\u2019t match up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt doesn\u2019t mean that PAs don\u2019t have a role in general practice, but they don\u2019t as a substitute to a fully qualified and trained GP.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And she said that there was no shortage of doctors ready and willing to go into general practice but that roles were going to PAs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She added that neither patients nor doctors want the changes that are being pushed through to general practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe powers that be would have it that these roles are really needed because there\u2019s a shortage of doctors and a shortage of GPs and that somebody needs to see patients, address their problems and move their treatment and care forward,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThere is not a shortage of doctors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIn the recent recruitment round, more than 11,000 doctors applied for a GP training post and 4,000 were accepted into these posts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThere were only 4,000 available posts to train our future GPs, so 7,000 doctors who wanted to be a GP in the future have not got a job to train as a GP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe blockage or shortage of GPs for patients is not a shortage of doctors. It may be the way the Department of Health or other decision makers have decided to fund and structure general practice but it\u2019s not what patients want and it\u2019s not what doctors and GPs want for their patients.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/gb\/podcast\/are-we-being-diagnosed-by-fake-doctors\/id1497546667?i=1000648412549\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Listen to the interview again<\/a>. It starts at around one hour 37 minutes and 50 seconds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The co-chair of the Doctors\u2019 Association UK contributed to a national radio debate on physician associates (PAs) and told listeners the expansion of their roles&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[310],"tags":[38,637,644,636,42],"class_list":["post-1221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dauk","tag-medical-associate-professionals","tag-ms-helen-fernandes","tag-physician-associates","tag-the-doctors-association-uk"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1221"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1221\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}