Physician associates should not be regulated by the General Medical Council, and doctors should tell it so

McCartney’s conclusions about physician associates (PAs)—that, in general practice, costs and activity will increase and efficiency will decrease—seem evident and inevitable.1The General Medical Council proposes simplification of the regulation of PAs, with more power to bypass fitness to practise tribunals. Its consultation also covered draft principles that will inform fitness to practise decision making guidance that will apply to doctors from December 2024. 2The situation in general practice seems inverted. In many practices, patients are initially seen by advanced nurse practitioners. Meanwhile, GPs’ time is taken up by chronic disease management and they see little of first presentations. Specialist nurses are frequently better suited, by training and often by inclination, to manage routine health surveillance, with mostly nominal consultant supervision. PAs, who are less comprehensively trained than nurse practitioners, will need much more supervision, especially in general practice, where missed early signs can have dire consequences. There also seems to…
Read Original Article: Physician associates should not be regulated by the General Medical Council, and doctors should tell it so »