Under the new guidelines, patients should be assessed by a GP before being seen by a partner doctor to reduce the risk of harm.
PAs are also encouraged to explain that they are not doctors when they introduce themselves and to wear badges with their name clearly stated.
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 patient safety.
Personal assistants only need to complete a two-year postgraduate healthcare course, rather than a medical degree. Their role is to “support doctors in the diagnosis and treatment 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 personal assistant who thought she 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 an extra 35 per cent funding per patient to call off the strike. The strikes have meant that some GPs have halved the number of appointments they offer.
Associate physicians are also encouraged to explain that they are not physicians when they introduce themselves and to 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 patient safety.
It comes as the British Medical Association (BMA) yesterday demanded that GP practices receive an extra 35 per cent funding per patient to call off the strike.
The extra £40 per patient, per year, would cost up to £2.5bn and could be used to boost practice profits. The BMA admitted that this alone would not be enough to end the dispute. He has also called for a new GP contract to reduce members’ workload.
The RCGP said its new guidance on PAs is intended to be a “practical resource” for GPs and their practices, which employ around 2,000 of them.
RCGP president Professor Kamila Hawthorne said: “There are too many APs who we feel are not being supervised and not trained to identify who has something seriously wrong and who doesn’t.”
The guidelines suggest that personal assistants should only first see patients who have been assessed by a GP and should always work under the supervision of a doctor. Personal assistants must wear “clearly visible name badges” and make sure 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 per cent thought the use of PAs in general practice could negatively impact 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 that medical associates play. They do not replace doctors, but rather support teams with specific tasks for which they are trained and supervised.’
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “We have already started recruiting an additional 1,000 GPs into the NHS and have invested £311m in GP surgeries.”
