Medicines with a low price! GPs are requiring patients to be assessed by a doctor before being seen by a physician assistant, due to patient safety concerns
New guidelines say patients should be assessed by a GP before being seen by a junior doctor to reduce the risk of harm.
PAs are also advised to explain that they are not doctors when introduced and to wear clear name badges.
The recommendations from the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) follow a council vote to oppose the role of PAs in general practice over fears for patient safety.
PAs are only required to complete a two-year postgraduate healthcare degree, rather than a medical degree. Their role is to ‘support doctors in the diagnosis and treatment of patients’ in general practices and hospitals. However, they have come under scrutiny following the death of Emily Chesterton, from Salford, who was misdiagnosed by a PA she thought was a doctor and suffered a pulmonary embolism in 2022 aged 30.
It comes as the British Medical Association (BMA) yesterday demanded that GP practices receive 35 per cent extra funding per patient to call off industrial action. Due to the strikes, some GPs have halved the number of appointments they offer.
Physician assistants are also advised to explain that they are not physicians when introducing themselves and to wear clear name badges.
The recommendations from the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) follow a council vote to oppose the role of PAs in general practice over fears for patient safety
It comes as the British Medical Association (BMA) yesterday demanded that GP practices receive 35 per cent extra funding per patient to call off industrial action.
The extra £40 per patient, per year, would cost up to £2.5 billion and could be used to boost practice profits. The BMA admitted that this alone would not be enough to end the dispute. There are also calls for a new GP contract that will reduce members’ workload.
The RCGP said the new guidance on PAs is intended to be a ‘practical resource’ for GPs and practices, which employ around 2,000 of them.
RCGP chair Professor Kamila Hawthorne said: ‘There are too many PAs who we feel are unsupervised and untrained to identify who has something seriously wrong and who doesn’t.’
The guidelines suggest that PAs should only see patients who have first been examined by a GP and should always work under a doctor’s supervision. PAs must wear “highly visible name badges” and ensure patients understand they are not doctors. And when booking appointments, the guidelines say patients should be able to discuss who they would like to see.
In June, a survey of RCGP members found that 81 percent believed the use of PAs in general practice could have a negative impact on patient safety. They recommend that PAs entering general practice prepare with an additional one-year transition program.
An NHS spokesperson said: ‘We have always been clear about the role medical staff play. They are not replacements for doctors, but support teams with specific tasks for which they have been trained, under supervision.’
A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care said: ‘We have already started hiring 1,000 more GPs for the NHS and have put £311 million into GP practices.’
