Classification and regulation of NHS medical associate roles and patient safety

That this House believes that the renaming of NHS medical assistant roles to physician associate and anaesthesia associate is confusing the public by blurring the clear distinction between doctors and other professionals who do not have medical qualifications and training; believes that this misleads the public and notes with regret the case of Emily Chesterton, whom the coroner ruled should have been sent to hospital for emergency admission but was misdiagnosed by the same physician associate on both occasions and treated for a calf sprain; agrees that the planned regulation of these non-medical roles by the General Medical Council adds to this potentially dangerous confusion; notes that nine out of 10 doctors in a recent survey believe that the increased scope and number of these roles is dangerous to patients and highly misleading; further notes that the Royal College of GPs has opposed the Government’s planned expansion of these associate roles; calls on the Government to revert the titles of these roles immediately to their previous titles of Physician Assistant and Anaesthesia Assistant to ensure the safety of patients and the proper functioning of the NHS and to regulate them through the Health and Care Professions Council, as the British Medical Association has recommended; and further calls on the Government to ensure that the NHS Workforce Plan must fill physician roles with fully-qualified physicians, maintaining a clear distinction between medically-qualified roles and other roles.