Dr Taylor said: \u201cPeople like pharmacists, physios and mental health workers <\/a>have been proven to be effective in primary care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe role that is causing a lot\u00a0of consternation is the physician associate (PA). This isn\u2019t the fault of PAs, because I think they\u2019ve been thrown to the wolves, but they\u2019re effectively being used to\u00a0get healthcare done cheaper<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n DAUK’s GP spokesperson Dr Steve Taylor<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n DAUK acknowledges that PAs have a part to play in the NHS. However, DAUK\u2019s co-chair Ms Helen Fernandes said the Association was concerned that their roles have \u2018morphed over time\u2019<\/a> and are being \u2018substituted into roles traditionally populated by a doctor\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dr Taylor questioned that, as well as the patient safety risk of being seen by a PA, whether the tax-payer was getting value for money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He told iNews: \u201cA GP has 10 years of training, whereas a PA has two. They can\u2019t know what they don\u2019t know, and I don\u2019t think they\u2019re necessarily getting the supervision a GP trainee would get.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\u2019re effectively paying someone who\u2019s a little bit cheaper, but nowhere near as qualified, [instead of] people who are more expensive but will do twice as much work and not make as many mistakes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He added: \u201cThere has been a good push from the government to recruit extra GP trainees<\/a>. We\u2019ve seen a lot more trainees coming through the system. That would be fine if there was funding to employ them at the other end, but the funding per patient that practices receive has fallen 20 per cent in real terms since 2016.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.dauk.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Dr-Steve-Taylor-v2-1024x865.jpg\")
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