Cut-price’ medics! Britain’s biggest GP body demand patients be assessed by a doctor before being seen by a physician associate amid patient safety concerns

Patients should be assessed by a GP before being seen by a physician associate to reduce their risk of harm, according to new guidelines.

PAs are also advised to explain that they are not doctors when introducing themselves, and wear clear name badges.

The recommendations from the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) follow a vote by its council to oppose the role of PAs in general practice over fears for patients’ safety.

PAs have to do only a two-year postgraduate healthcare course, rather than a medical degree. Their role is to ‘support doctors in the diagnosis and management of patients’ in GP surgeries and hospitals. However, they have come under scrutiny following the death of Emily Chesterton, from Salford, who was misdiagnosed by a PA who 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 are given an additional 35 per cent of funding per patient in order to call off industrial action. The strikes have involved some family doctors halving the number of appointments they offer.

The recommendations from the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) follow a vote by its council to oppose the role of PAs in general practice over fears for patients’ safety 

It comes as the British Medical Association (BMA) yesterday demanded that GP practices are given an additional 35 per cent of funding per patient in order to call off industrial action (file image)

The extra £40 per patient, per year, would cost up to £2.5billion and could be used to boost practice profits. The BMA admitted this alone would not be enough to end the dispute. It has also called for a new GP contract that reduces members’ workloads.

The RCGP said its new guidance on PAs is intended as a ‘practical resource’ for GPs and practices, which employ around 2,000 of them.

RCGP chairman Professor Kamila Hawthorne said: ‘There are too many PAs we feel are not being supervised and not trained to identify who’s got something seriously wrong and who hasn’t.’

The guidelines suggest PAs should only see patients who have been triaged by a GP first and should always work under the supervision of a doctor. PAs should wear ‘clearly visible name badges’ and ensure patients understand they are not a doctor. And when booking appointments, the guidelines say patients must be able to discuss who they would like to see.

In June, a survey of RCGP members found 81 per cent thought that using PAs in general practice could negatively effect patient safety. They recommend PAs going into general practice prepare with an additional one-year transition programme.

An NHS spokesman said: ‘We have always been clear about the role medical associates play. They are not replacements for doctors, but support teams with specific tasks they are trained to do, under supervision.’

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: ‘We have already begun hiring an extra 1,000 GPs into the NHS and put £311million into GP practices.’