The Doctors’ Association UK (DAUK) has offered its support to Layla Moran MP, the new chair of the Health and Social Care Select Committee.
DAUK chair Ms Helen Fernandes congratulated Ms Moran, the Liberal Democrat MP for Oxford West and Abingdon, on being elected to the post.
Ms Fernandes said: “She takes up the role at a time of vital importance to the NHS, to doctors, and to patients as the regulation and expansion of physician associates (PAs) continues apace.
“The debate is not about physician associates as individuals but rather the ambiguous and undefined role they’ve been placed in.”
Ms Fernandes described it as ‘one of the most pressing issues facing the health service’.
She added: “A new report by the King’s Fund is damning of the Royal College of Physicians in its handling of members’ concerns over PAs, 87 per cent of doctors responding to a BMA survey felt that the way PAs and anaesthesia associates currently work always or sometimes risks patient safety, and yet their regulation by the GMC has been rushed through without proper scrutiny and diligence.
“We hope that it is a high priority matter for the new committee to look at, to see how we got into this mess, and whether there is a way out of it.
“We have long called for a pause on the project over concerns about their scope of work, qualifications, training, and ultimately patient safety – and we continue to do so.
Physician associates
“Physician associates have a part to play in the health service in support of doctors, not in replacing them.
“We stand ready to work with Ms Moran and the committee on this and other issues.”
DAUK has written to Ms Moran to request a meeting with her to discuss issues facing doctors.
Ms Moran said she was delighted to be taking on the role ‘to constructively challenge Ministers and the Department to deliver’.
She said: “With millions stuck on waiting lists, doctors and nurses overstretched, and far too many elderly people trapped in hospitals without a care plan, the role of the committee as a critical friend of the Government as it tackles these challenges has never been more important.
“From social care to dentistry, and waiting lists to the workforce crisis, it has never been more pressing to find common ground across the political spectrum and I look forward to running a committee that champions the voice of patients and front line health and social care staff.”
The Health and Social Care Committee will scrutinise the work of the Department of Health and Social Care and its associated public bodies. It reviews government policies, spending, and administration on behalf of the public and the House of Commons.
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