Doctors need a new job title, says review

Doctors Associates (PAS) and anesthesia Associates (AAS) that support doctors in GP operations and hospitals should be referred to as “assistants” to avoid confusing patients, according to an independent review.

It recommends that PAS and AAS wear standardized clothing and badges to distinguish them from doctors and should only see patients under limited circumstances.

Health Minister Wes Streeting said the government would accept all the recommendations of the review that was announced last year after a heated debate.

The doctorate, the BMA, said it should have continued, but the union that represented PAS and AAS warned that the plans could make waiting lists longer.

The review author Prof. Gillian Leng spoke to doctors, patients and the public in order to collect evidence of the safety and effectiveness of the roles of PAS and AAS.

She said that a clear vision was “largely missing” when they were introduced in 2000, and there was no national plan for how the new roles would fit in existing teams, which led to a growing “confusion about role purposes and tasks”.

“Where the capacity in the local service was limited, gaps in medical bodies were sometimes covered by PAS without taking into account their limited training or ensuring that the superiors have the necessary understanding of the roles as well as the time and the skills that are necessary to ensure adequate supervision,” added Prof. Leng.

Prof. Leng also listened to families of relatives who died after the treatment of PAS and believed that they were qualified doctors.

“Security concerns that were expressed in terms of PAS, it was almost always a matter of making a diagnosis and deciding the initial treatment,” the review said.

“Here is the risk of missing an unusual illness or an unusual illness.”

Emily Chesterton was announced that the calf pain she experienced in October 2022 was a sprain, but actually a blood clot. She died at the age of 30 After he was seen twice by a doctor.

Susan Pollitt, 77, was treated by a PA in the hospital two years ago after a drain left in her stomach for 15 hours when he should have been. She died of an infection two days later.

Her daughter Kate says the family has never blamed PA, but more clarity.

“As a family, when they have someone in the hospital, they don’t think of it because they are only worried about their relatives,” she says.

“Although people tell you who they are, they don’t register it. So I think it has to be made clear, with the uniform, the badge and the name. We welcome that,” says Kate.

In other cases, the patients said that they were satisfied after seeing a PA and felt belonging, it says in the review.

The review recommends that doctors should:

• to be renamed “medical assistant” to reflect their supportive role in medical teams
• You see no new patients in primary or emergency care
• Have at least two years of experience in the hospital before working in a GP operation or a trust in mental health
• Be part of a team that is led by an older doctor
• Wear badges, lanyards and clothes to withdraw them from doctors

Anesthesia employees should be renamed “medical assistant in anesthesia” or Paas.

In addition, patients should receive clear information about the role of a PA, and there should be a faculty to present PAS and set standards for training.

Mr. Streeting accepted all the recommendations and said that patients could “be confident that those who treat them are qualified for it”.

“Medical assistants, as they are now called, will continue to play an important role in the NHS. They should help doctors, but they should never be used to replace doctors.”

Doctors Associates (PAS) and anesthesia Associates (AAS) were introduced to the NHS in the early 2000s to alleviate the workload of the doctors.

With increasing numbers, concerns about the safety of roles, the lack of clarity in relation to their responsibility and the effects on the work and training of Junior Medicers were expressed.

PAS are not entitled to prescribe medication, but can order certain scans, carry out medical history and carry out physical examinations.

Anesthesia Associates (AAS) supports operating teams and are a much smaller group.

There are now more than 3,000 PAS and AAS in England, but the NHS unit plan stipulates that until 2036 increases to 12,000.

Both PAS and AAS have to complete a two -year postgraduate course. To be justified, you either need a science-related bachelor’s degree or a registered medical specialist.

The Medical Royal Colleges academy stated that there was a growing campaign against its use, which was heated by unfounded claims on social media. It was asked for an independent review to present the jobs that you can make safe.

PAS and AAS have been regulated by General Medical Council, the committee, which also regulates the doctors, since December 2024.

The training of the doctors takes many years longer, and the anti -social hours and exams occur regularly.

The British Medical Association said PAS and AAS were asked to do tasks that they should not carry out, and the lines with doctors were blurred.

Dr. Emma Runswick from the BMA says that the name change to medical assistants is “positive”, but the doctors don’t have everything they wanted, and more need to be done.

“Patients can know who they see, but it does not make the most important changes we are looking for to find out what they can and what they cannot.”

“But we would be a fool to say that it was no progress.”

United Medical Associate Professionals (Umaps) that represent PAS and AAS greet the results on the whole, but are concerns, especially about PAS that only treat patients who have already been diagnosed.

“We believe that this only exacerbates the gap for appointments with GPS and consultants and the advantage of such high -qualified medical specialists in wards and local operations fully negated,” said Secretary General Stephen Nash.

Dr. Hilary Williams, a thorough vice president of the Royal College of Physicians, said that the review was “thoughtful” and “thoroughly” and showed that “reform is urgently needed” to ensure safe teamwork in the NHS.