DAUK has responded to the High Court ruling on the legal challenge over the GMC’s regulation of physician assistants (PAs) and physician assistants in anaesthesia (PAAs).
Ms Helen Fernandes, co-chair of the Doctors’ Association UK (DAUK) said: “We’re extremely disappointed by the ruling, which does nothing to address our serious concerns over the GMC’s failure to properly regulate PAs and PAAs.
“We thank Anaesthetists United (AU) and the family of Emily Chesterton for bringing this legal challenge, which we have supported from the beginning.
Physician assistants
“While we recognise that PAs and PAAs need to be regulated, we maintain that it must be done by the most appropriate body, which is not the GMC.
“Despite the High Court verdict, our concerns remain that their regulation poses significant risk to patient safety.
“The fundamental issues of scope of practice, of supervision, and of who is responsible for these assistants and their work is still to be addressed.
“And with the GMC still refusing to address those issues, it will fall on every single NHS institution to do so. Clearly that can’t be right.
“Instead of a clear, nationally agreed framework, we will have a fragmented system with regulation of PAs and PAAs set by individual institutions.
Patient safety
“How will the GMC enforce such a system and protect patient safety and maintain public confidence?
“We will review this ruling carefully and continue to work with other organisations and policymakers to press for the regulation of PAs and PAAs that puts patient safety first.”
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