A HAGLEY frontline doctor has secured a victory for him and his NHS colleagues after calling an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) of the Royal College of Physicians.
There have only been three EGMs in the National Health Service’s history and over 500 years of healthcare systems and Dr David Nicholl, who works as a neurologist at City Hospital in Birmingham, has instigated two of them.
Dr Nicholl said he called the meeting in a bid to improve the chances of patients with regard to getting appointments with a qualified doctor.
There were five motions put forward at the meeting and all were passed.
The first related to ‘scope of practice’ – this related to physician associates (PAs) who, whilst being valued healthcare professionals, ‘not being doctors and should not be regarded as replacements for doctors’.
The second motion was on ‘accountability’, calling for only qualified doctors rather than PAs being able to prescribe medication on request or those asking for x-rays.
The third motion called on the Royal College of Physicians (RCPs) to research the use of PAs with regard to aspects including clinical outcomes, cost effectiveness, safety, the patient experience and staff wellbeing.
The other two motions called on the RCP to explore, document and address the impact on training opportunities of doctors resulting from the introduction of PAs and to pause the roll-out of PA roles.
Dr Nicholl said: “This is the biggest change to healthcare in the UK in decades and I cannot believe it was not debated in Parliament – it was just pushed through.
“I am not criticising PAs – they are good at what they do but it can be extremely dangerous if they are asked to do the job of a GP and are not supervised.
“I also know a lot of doctors who are concerned about the opportunities they may miss out on or not get offered after their training because of PAs being used instead.
“If a strategy like this is to be implemented, it needs to be done gradually and safely and all PAs must be supervised.”
He added the EGM result had led to a letter already being sent out by NHS England to all GPs across the country, categorically stating that ‘PAs should be specifically trained to work alongside GPs and not as replacements’ and that ‘all work by PAs must be supervised and debriefed by their supervising GP’.
