More than half of patients do not know what a ‘junior doctor’ is despite NHS plans to make them more important, a study has revealed.
Doctors have opposed the mass introduction of PA in GP surgeries and hospitals, warning that they are insufficiently trained and put patients at risk.
There are already more than 3,500 of them deployed in England and there are plans to train 1,000 more each year to bring the total to 10,000 in 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 a physician associate.
Their duties include taking medical histories and performing physical examinations.
More than half of patients don’t know what a ‘medical assistant’ is despite NHS plans to make them more aware, a study reveals (file image)
Doctors have opposed the mass deployment of medical assistants in doctors’ surgeries and hospitals, warning that they are insufficiently trained and put patients at risk (file image)
However, some universities offering the course have admitted students with degrees in areas such as geography, human resources and English literature.
The Ipsos survey of 1,127 people aged 16 and over found that 57 per cent had either never heard of PAs or had heard of the role but knew nothing about it.
This compares with 3 percent who said they knew a lot about APs, while 15 percent said they knew quite a bit and 22 percent said they knew a little.
PAs have been under scrutiny following high-profile errors, including the death of Emily Chesterton, 30, who was misdiagnosed by a PA twice before eventually dying from a blood clot in 2022.
Leading GPs said it was important for people to have more information about GPs and stressed that it should be made clear to patients being treated by them that they are not doctors.
The British Medical Association (BMA) also warned that “efforts to reduce waiting lists must not come at the expense of patient safety.”
However, only a quarter of respondents said that at every appointment over the past year, they were aware of the role of the healthcare professional they interacted with in their office, whether it was a GP, nurse or PA.
About 23 percent said they knew the role most of the time, 19 percent some of the time, 11 percent not very often, and 4 percent never.
Most people (77 percent) said they find it important to know the role of the staff member they are dealing with.
The Ipsos survey of 1,127 people aged 16 and over found that 57 per cent had either never heard of personal assistants or had heard of the role but knew nothing about it (file image)
Only a quarter of people surveyed said that at every appointment over the past year they were aware of the role of the healthcare professional they interacted with in their office, whether it was a GP, nurse or PA (file image)
After being given a brief description of the role, 40 per cent of people surveyed said the NHS should use funding to recruit and train more PAs to support GPs so that the wait for an appointment is shorter, even if a patient is less likely to see a family doctor.
This compares with 30 per cent of people who agreed that the NHS should recruit fewer GPs so that patients would be more likely to speak to a doctor even if they had to wait longer.
Associated medical professions (AP) roles, which include PAs and Anaesthetist Associates (AAs), were introduced into the NHS workforce in the early 2000s to enhance patient access to care.
Professor Phil Banfield, chair of the BMA council, added: “It is incredibly worrying, but not at all surprising, that so many people know so little about medical assistants, even though they work in GP practices and hospitals across the country.
‘Physical assistants are not equivalent to physicians. They must always work under the close supervision of a physician and should never be used in his or her place.
We believe that PAs should only see those patients who have already been assessed by a GP who has many more years of training, as efforts to reduce waiting lists should not be at the expense of patient safety.
The Royal College of GPs said it was a “red line” for patients to know “if they are being treated by a GP, what their role is and that they are not doctors” (file image)
‘It takes more than 10 years of training to become a GP, PAs study for two years and although they have a role in the NHS, they should not be used as a substitute for qualified staff.’
Meanwhile, 62 per cent of respondents to the survey said they felt that availability of GP appointments for non-urgent conditions, which are usually booked in advance, was poor.
More than half (55 percent) said the availability of urgent appointments was also poor.
Dr Victoria Tzortziou-Brown, vice president of the Royal College of GPs, said: ‘This survey shows how important it is that more information is available to patients about this role, and that it is made very clear to any patient being treated by a GP associate what their role is and that they are not a doctor – this is one of the College’s red lines for PAs working in general practice.
‘GPs feel as frustrated as our patients when they struggle to access our care and services.
‘Simply employing other healthcare professionals, including PAs, into general practice should not be seen as the solution.’
An NHS spokesperson said: “The NHS has always been clear about the role that medical associates play in supporting clinical teams to deliver high-quality care to patients – they are not replacements for doctors, but support with specific tasks they are trained to do, under supervision.”
