The doctors’ union is set to take legal action against the medical regulator amid growing concerns about the use of partner doctors.
The British Medical Association said it needs to act before the “uncontrolled experiment” in using less qualified staff “leads to further unintentional harm to patients”.
He said there has been a “dangerous blurring of lines” for patients between the roles of doctor and assistant, with some people unaware of who is treating them.
And he warned this will get worse if the General Medical Council (GMC) goes ahead with its plan to extend its regulatory powers beyond doctors to also cover PAs.
The NHS is implementing a massive expansion in the use of PAs, despite concerns that undertrained workers are putting patients at risk.
The BMA said the General Medical Council must act before the “uncontrolled experiment” in using less qualified staff “leads to further unintended harm to patients”. Professor Philip Banfield, chairman of the BMA council (pictured), told the union’s annual meeting in Belfast: “Today I want to announce that we are taking legal action against the GMC.”
Emily Chesterton, pictured, was just 30 when she died in 2022 after a medical assistant missed a blood clot. The actress was seen twice by her same personal assistant, who told her that she had anxiety and long Covid. Her parents say that at no point during the appointment did Emily realize that the person she was seeing was not a primary care doctor.
He died in November after suffering cardiac arrest. A coroner concluded that her life could have been saved if she had been sent to A&E. The GP surgery where Ms Chesterton was treated, the Vale practice in Crouch End, has stopped employing personal assistants. Her parents are now warning of the dangers patients may face amid plans to expand the use of APs.
Norman Jopling, 79, from north London, suffered a serious brain haemorrhage after a personal assistant mistakenly told him his painful headaches were nothing to worry about. His wife Maureen, right, accused the NHS of “trying to cut corners” by allowing personal assistants to carry out “complicated tasks that they are not qualified to do”.
More than 3,500 are already deployed in England, with plans to train 1,000 more each year to reach a total of 10,000 within 12 years.
Workers do not go to medical school but are generally expected to have a science degree or clinical qualification before embarking on a two-year postgraduate course to train to become associate doctors.
However, some universities offering the course have admitted to accepting students with first degrees in geography, human resources and English literature.
From December 2024, the GMC will become the regulator for associate physicians and anesthesia associates, known collectively as the Medical Associated Professions (MAP).
MAPs have come under increased scrutiny following the death of Emily Chesterton in November 2022.
The 30-year-old woman was under the impression she was seeing a GP, but was actually visited twice by a personal assistant who failed to detect on both occasions that the leg pain and difficulty breathing were a clot. of blood, which eventually traveled to his lungs. .
Leading doctors, including the Royal College of GPs, have called for the recruitment of associate doctors to be halted while concerns are addressed.
Professor Philip Banfield, chairman of the BMA council, told the union’s annual meeting in Belfast: ‘Today I want to announce that we are taking legal action against the GMC.
‘We are taking this action because of the dangerous blurring of lines between doctors and PCPs, specifically by questioning their frankly unsafe use of the term ‘medical professionals’ when referring to people who are not doctors.
‘This legal action is supported by our colleagues, the grassroots movement Anesthetists United, who will be bringing a complementary legal challenge.
‘We have had enough of the Government and NHS leadership eroding our profession.
‘We are advocating for doctors and patients alike to block this poorly thought-out project before it leads to further unintended harm to patients.
“It is not too late to reverse this uncontrolled experiment in simplifying the medical skills and knowledge available to our patients.”
Protesters, including doctors, gathered outside Parliament to protest against the handover to Physician Associates on February 26, 2024. Pictured is Dr. Robert Laurenson (third left), co-chair of the Young Doctors Committee of the BMA, participating in the protest.
The BMA has previously argued that the GMC is not the right regulator for MAPs, claiming the move will “undermine and devalue” the medical profession and confuse patients.
In the BMA’s action letter, it says it is seeking to challenge the GMC’s decision to apply its central guidance for doctors (Good Medical Practice) equally to associate doctors and anesthetists once they are regulated by the GMC.
The BMA also questions the GMC’s use of the term “medical professionals” as a collective description of doctors, medical associates and anesthesia associates.
The BMA is launching a judicial review claim against the GMC over its use of the term, which it claims should only be used to refer to qualified doctors.
Professor Banfield later added: “PAs are not doctors and we have seen the tragic consequences of what happens when this is not made clear to patients.”
‘Everyone has the right to know who the healthcare professional they are consulting is and what they are qualified to do and, above all, what they are not qualified to do.
‘Doctors are “the medical profession.”
‘Describing any other staff as medical professionals not only undermines doctors and the rigorous training process they have undertaken, but also confuses patients, who rightly associate the two terms as one.
‘The central and solemn responsibility of the GMC is to protect the public from those who are not qualified registered doctors and pose as doctors.
“It has become increasingly clear that expanding the term ‘medical professionals’ to include those without medical degrees has had the effect of making this task much more difficult, when recent experience has shown that this represents a dangerous blurring of this distinction.” criticism”.
Dr Richard Marks, co-founder of Anesthetists United, added: “Doctors and their patients are united in their opposition to the outgoing government’s plans to replace doctors with associates.
“Taking legal action seems to be the only way forward.”