PA legislation gets rubberstamp approval by the House of Commons

The statutory instrument (SI) which will allow the GMC to regulate physician associates (PAs) received approval by the House of Commons yesterday.

The Anaesthesia Associates and Physician Associates Order 2024 will establish the GMC as the statutory regulator for PAs, meaning they set out the standards for their practice, education and training and operate fitness-to-practice procedures.

The next step for the piece of legislation will be scrutiny by the House of Lords.

Last week, the Doctors’ Association UK said it is considering a legal challenge of the regulation plans, while the BMA took out adverts urging MPs to oppose the legislation.

The House of Commons stamp of approval means MPs have now ‘consented’ to blurring the lines between the role of doctors and PAs, the BMA said.

The union is concerned about the regulations, which could create confusion for patients by creating the impression that a PA is a form of doctor.

BMA chair of council Professor Phil Banfield said the rubberstamp approval of this ‘potentially harmful legislation’ by the House of Commons was ‘hugely disappointing’.

He said: ‘MPs have consented to the blurring of the roles of doctor and PA, and in so doing, risked thousands of patients believing they will be getting care from a doctor when they will not.

‘It is dismaying for this fundamental change to patient care to have been carried out by a legislative process outside the public’s knowledge or control, notwithstanding the powerful contributions of those individual MPs who listened to both their constituents and the medical profession and raised their voice against it.

‘The Health and Care Professions Council is the appropriate regulator for these roles – not the General Medical Council, the doctors’ regulator.

‘As this legislation moves to the House of Lords, we urge its members to raise objections and stop this damaging change.’

Last month, the GMC said it would add an alphabetical prefix in order to distinguish PA GMC numbers from those of doctors, however the Government rejected calls to rename PAs.

The BMA warned the proposed legislation ‘will add further, dangerous confusion’ with patients being left under the impression that they have seen a doctor when they haven’t, and over 10,000 doctors wrote to their MP to urge them to oppose the change.

And the BMA’s GPC for England called for an immediate pause on all recruitment of PAs across general practice and PCNs.

In July, Pulse reported on a GP practice’s decision to stop employing physician associates after an incident of ‘poor quality’ care contributed to the death of a patient.