2 NEWS
2 NEWS
22 AUGUST 2025 ausdoc. com. au
‘ Rename and restrict PAs’
Ciara Seccombe AN independent review has recommended that NHS England’ s 3500 physician associates stop treating undifferentiated patients and use a new title: physician assistants.
The UK Government ordered the review of physician associates( PAs) in 2024 amid concerns these“ cheap substitutes” for doctors— treating patients based on a twoyear postgraduate qualification— were a safety risk.
Published in July, the review recommended that GP practices stop recruiting PAs without at least two years’ hospital experience.
It also said PAs should immediately stop conducting triage or seeing undifferentiated patients except in scenarios endorsed by medical colleges.
Diagnosis and initial treatment were“ almost always” the context where PAs could make dangerous errors, said the review, led by Royal Society of Medicine president Professor Gillian Leng.
In her foreword, Professor Leng said the UK Government’ s use of PAs represented“ reactive management that simply fills gaps in staffing”.
“ It seems to assume that much
Professor Gillian Leng.
of the doctor’ s role does not need the skills and qualifications of a doctor, which if that is the case, requires a thorough reconfiguration of roles and restructuring, not a simplistic replacement of a doctor with an individual who is significantly less qualified.”
PA use is‘ reactive management that simply fills gaps’.
Renaming‘ physician associates’ as‘ physician assistants’ would help patients understand they were not doctors, especially as many wore scrubs and stethoscopes, the review said. Considering that newly qualified doctors always worked in secondary care before primary care, PAs should too, it added.
“ Initial employment in secondary care provides an environment where any safety issues can be identified promptly and further training and development provided.”
Within 24 hours of the review’ s publication, the UK Government said it would implement all of the recommendations.
However, the union for PAs called this decision“ unfair and completely irrational” and filed a legal case to block it.
“ The Leng Review found no hard evidence that PAs are unsafe or ineffective,” said Stephen Nash, general secretary of United Medical Associate Professionals( UMAPs).
“ UMAPs charges the government with ignoring the potential bias of information included in the Leng Review and making recommendations which apparently seek to address grievances of resident doctors rather than the safety of medical associate professionals.”
UMAPs said following review recommendations would mean about 1900 PAs working in primary care losing their jobs“ as the role would become incredibly limited”.
First new specialty in 15 years
Carmel Sparke FOR the first time in 15 years, Australia’ s list of specialties has a new member.
Genetic pathology has become the 17th recognised specialty after a six-year process that ended when Australia’ s health ministers approved it in June.
It means‘ specialist genetic pathologist’ is now a protected title reserved for doctors with specialist registration in the field.
The Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia proposed the new specialty in 2019, saying the expanded role of genetic testing meant doctors with expertise in this area were increasingly required.
“ Genetic pathologists are uniquely placed to oversee genetic testing systems and deployment of new technologies in ways that are beyond the scope of training and experience of pathologists in other disciplines,” the college said at the time.
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