Nearly 4,000 PAs register with GMC – while Leng recommendations yet to be implemented

Around 3,900 physician associates have now registered with the GMC, the regulator has revealed, ahead of a deadline due later this year.

Speaking to the House of Commons Health and Social Care Committee yesterday, GMC chief executive Charlie Massey said they estimate this to be around 80% of PAs currently working in the UK.

Pressed on how many PAs are actually working in the UK, Mr Massey told MPs this data would not be available available before the registration deadline of December this year as it was ‘unknown’.

However, this comes against only 1,020 PAs being employed via ARRS in England as of last month, according to the latest data, following a continued decline amid ongoing controversy around their safety.

GMC regulation of physician associates has also come under vast criticism from doctors, but the BMA lost its High Court case against the GMC for ‘blurring the lines’ between PAs and doctors in April last year. 

The case, which concerned the GMC’s use of the term ‘medical professionals’ in its standards document Good Medical Practice, prompted MPs to question Mr Massey on whether the regulator should have taken a different approach from the start.

Asked by committee chair Layla Moran if he was sorry, Mr Massey said: ‘I’m sorry, with the benefit of hindsight, that we weren’t clearer about distinguishing between those roles. 

‘We did make a decision to have different reference numbers for PAs and AAs than with doctors, but we could – with the benefit of hindsight, should – have gone further in terms of that differentiation than we that we did.’ 

MPs also quizzed Mr Massey on the GMC’s response to the findings of the Leng review into the safety and effectiveness of PAs and AAs, published last year. 

Her report, endorsed by the Government, called for actions including revising Good Medical Practice to provide distinct categories for PAs and AAs, updating curricula and training, and formally changing the role names from ‘associate’ to ‘assistant’. 

Mr Massey said he was ‘absolutely confident’ the GMC would ‘deliver all the recommendations that we’re responsible for’ by the end of 2026.

On changing the role names, he said the GMC was waiting for the Government to pass legislation formalising the change – which he said was expected by the end of the year.

‘We took the view that there would be quite considerable confusion by adopting new titles that weren’t set in legislation… We are expecting Government to consult within the coming weeks on legislation that will both make that name change for PAs and AAs,’ he said. 

Mr Massey told MPs this consultation would take place before May elections in Scotland and Wales. Following this, he anticipated the Government would ‘get the changes on the statute by the end of the year’. 

The legislation is also set to strip the regulator of the right to appeal fitness-to-practise decisions, a power it has shared with Professional Standards Authority (PSA) since 2016, and give it greater powers to decide on sanctions without progressing complaints to an MPTS tribunal.

Pulse has exclusively revealed the GMC has used this right to appeal 60 Medical Practitioners Tribunal (MPT) decisions to date, a third of which (20) were against GPs.