BMA describes GMC’s attitude to patient safety as ‘indifferent’
Regulator’s approval of PA and AA training courses lambasted by doctors leaders
The GMC has formally approved training courses for PA (physician associates) and AA (anaesthesia associates), despite the BMA’s concern that these roles blur the distinction between doctors and non-medically qualified professionals.
The warning comes following today’s announcement by the medical regulator that it has approved PA and AA training programmes at 36 universities across the UK.
The GMC has said the courses, 33 of which are for training PAs, could see up to 1,101 associate staff qualify each year.
The BMA, however, has criticised the move, describing the medical regulator’s approval of training programmes as showing itself to be ‘indifferent’ to safety concerns held by many doctors regarding the use of PAs and AAs.
Speaking about the announcement, BMA council chair Philip Banfield said he was alarmed at the decision to press ahead with approving new training programmes, particularly with the Leng Review into PA/AA safety still yet to conclude.
He added that, despite the BMA having made clear its recommendations on the use of associate staff in the form of a scope of practice, the GMC was continuing to ignore the concerns of the medical profession.
He said: ‘It is difficult to understand how the GMC can move forward with such apparent indifference to the safety concerns expressed by doctors in approving these courses while the Leng Review into the safety of PAs and AAs in still under way.
‘The medical profession has alarming worries about the quality and robustness of these courses, with reports of exams with 100 per cent pass rates. We have made doctors’ concerns clear in our submission to the Leng review, which includes a call for an independent body of doctors, without links to course providers, to determine proportionate and safe expectations of what can be covered in curricula for assistant roles within a two-year training period.
‘The GMC is well aware of our patient-safety recommendations yet is irresponsibly pushing forward. To ensure patient safety the GMC should work with the wider medical profession to determine safe scopes of practice and wait for the outcome of the Leng review before reassessing at that point.’
Conditional approval
The approved training programmes will see participating universities subject to ‘formal quality assurance’ by the GMC for the first time.
The GMC has stated that, while it granted full approval to 33 PA training courses, four programmes – which include those provided by the University of Bradford, University of Greater Manchester, Queen Mary University of London and Sheffield Hallam University – received conditional approval following the identification of concerns during the approval process.
The GMC has said that all four are now subject to targeted action plans designed to ‘ensure those concerns are addressed’.
A total of 2,358 PAs and 104 AAs have been registered with the GMC since it took over the regulation of these staff in December 2024.
This number is set to increase further with the GMC stating that 680 PAs and AAs have applied for registration, with an additional 897 applications in progress but not yet submitted.
The announced expansion of training comes following an unsuccessful legal challenge by the BMA against the GMC’s decision to refer to doctors and PAs/AAs as ‘medical professionals’ in its latest Good Medical Practice guidance.
Meanwhile, a separate judicial review challenging the GMC’s failure to distinguish between qualified doctors and associate staff, is set to be heard on 13 May.
The case, which is being supported by the BMA, has been brought by the group Anaesthetists United and Marion and Brendan Chesterton, whose daughter Emily died after being misdiagnosed by a PA whom she believed was a GP.
