PAs in general practice must be ‘regulated, supervised and work within a clear scope of practice’

College Vice Chair Victoria Tzortziou-Brown appears in today’s Daily Mail and Telegraph responding to a survey by PA Media on the public awareness of physician associates, the perceptions of general practice access and the quality of NHS care.

“This poll shows how important it is that more information for patients is available about this role – and that it is made very clear to any patient who is being treated by a Physician Associate what their role is and that they are not a doctor; this is one of the College’s red lines for PAs working in general practice.

“It is the College’s position that PAs can potentially have a helpful role in general practice – but that the profession must be regulated, must be supervised by a fully-qualified GP, and must work within a clearly defined scope of practice. Without these, the College does have patient safety concerns about PAs working in general practice. This is why, following consultation with members, it has called for a halt to PA recruitment in general practice until the profession is regulated and guidance on supervision, induction and scope of practice has been developed.

“GPs are as frustrated as our patients when they struggle to access our care and services. Delivering the safe and timely care our patients need is our number one priority but years of underfunding of general practice and poor workforce planning, means we do not have enough fully-qualified, full-time equivalent GPs to keep up with the increasing need for our care. Simply recruiting other healthcare professionals, including PAs, in general practice, must not be seen as the answer.

“GPs are medical doctors who train for at least ten years to be experts in delivering whole-person care for patients, managing their complex health conditions and the associated risk and uncertainty, which ultimately keeps the NHS sustainable. Other roles can support us in this, but they cannot be used as substitutes for us.

“Our service is struggling but the latest GP Patient Survey clearly found that when patients access our care they are largely satisfied with it. With the right investment and initiatives to recruit and retain GPs we can ensure GPs deliver the safe, appropriate and timely care that we are trained to, and want to, provide. It's vital that the new Government recognises this and ensures that general practice finally gets the support it needs to provide the care our patients need.”

Further information

RCGP press office: 0203 188 7659
press@rcgp.org.uk

Notes to editors

The Royal College of General Practitioners is a network of more than 54,000 family doctors working to improve care for patients. We work to encourage and maintain the highest standards of general medical practice and act as the voice of GPs on education, training, research and clinical standards.