Philippa RoxbyHealth Reporter
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The review recommends PAs wear a different uniform to doctors
Physician associates (PAs) and anaesthesia associates (AAs), who assist doctors in GP surgeries and hospitals, should be known as “assistants” to avoid confusing patients, an independent review says.
It recommends PAs and AAs wear standardised clothing and badges to distinguish them from doctors and should only see patients in limited circumstances.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting said the government would accept all the recommendations of the review which was announced last year, following a heated debate.
The doctor’s union, the BMA, said it should have gone further but the union representing PAs and AAs warned the plans could make waiting lists longer.
Review author Prof Gillian Leng talked to doctors, patients and the public to collect evidence on the safety and effectiveness of the roles of PAs and AAs.
She said a clear vision “was largely missing” when they were introduced in 2000 and there was no national plan for how the new roles would fit into existing teams, resulting in growing “confusion about the roles’ purpose and remit”.
“Where capacity was limited in local services, gaps in medical posts were sometimes covered by PAs, without taking into account their more limited training or ensuring that supervisors had the necessary understanding of the roles and the time and skills required to provide appropriate oversight,” Prof Leng added.
Prof Leng also listened to families of relatives who died after being treated by PAs, believing them to be qualified doctors.
“Safety concerns raised in relation to PAs were almost always about making a diagnosis and deciding the initial treatment,” says the review.
“It is here that the risk of missing an unusual disease or condition is highest.”
Emily Chesterton was told the calf pain she was experiencing in October 2022 was a sprain but it was in fact a blood clot. She died, aged 30, after being seen twice by a physician associate.
Susan Pollitt, 77, was being treated by a PA in hospital two years ago after a drain was left in her abdomen for 15 hours longer than it should have been. She died from an infec
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