Dear Editor
We agree that Physician Associates (PAs) require appropriate regulation. PAs have been campaigning for statutory regulation for many years. In the meantime, there are thousands of PAs providing excellent care to patients, within a safe scope of practice, under robust supervision. In our own Trust, we have employed PAs for over six years. They are highly valued and respected team members. Their presence in our multidisciplinary acute medicine team, enables us to provide better training and supervision to junior doctors, many of whom do not yet have the practical experience and competencies of the PAs, despite their medical degree and extensive training. We would be lost without them. Therefore, we are disappointed by the BMA’s unwarranted and misguided call to halt recruitment of PAs.
Professor Banfield rightly points out that the government has presided over a workforce crisis. But by scapegoating PAs, he is distracting from the core issue of inadequate government investment into the NHS. Professor Banfield cites cases where patients have come to harm when treated by PAs. We agree that the sad and poignant case of Emily Chesterton is a cautionary tale of the pitfalls all clinicians encounter in the diagnosis of venous thromboembolism. The 2019 NCEPOD report, Know the Score, highlighted that 38.3% of patients suffered a delay in the process of care for PE (https://www.ncepod.org.uk/2019pe/PE_Full%20report.pdf). This is a common issue. Every GP practice and Trust will have missed diagnoses of fatal PE. We do not highlight cases missed by junior doctors as a reason to halt their recruitment. We should learn from every incident, not seek to blame and marginalise.
We hope that the BMA will apologise to PAs who have been upset by Professor Banfield’s comments. We should strive to work positively together in order to survive this crisis.
Value and respect physician associates