The Royal College of Physicians held an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) this evening (Wednesday 13 March) to debate issues related to the physician associate profession.
RCP president Dr Sarah Clarke chaired a debate on five motions covering scope of practice, accountability, evaluation, the impact on training opportunities, and the pace and scale of roll-out. RCP fellows have now been invited to vote on the motions before the closing date of Wednesday 20 March.
The meeting was held virtually and in the RCP at Regent’s Park building with around 100 doctors in attendance. Some technical issues affected video transmission but the audio was unaffected. Apologies to those who missed those few minutes of the debate.
At the meeting, deputy registrar Professor Jamie Read shared the initial findings from a membership survey carried out in February. It showed that there were significantly more positive responses from those who are working or have worked with physician associates (PAs). Those who have not worked with PAs felt that more could be done to aid their understanding of the role. Respondents also highlighted a need for work to improve satisfaction with training and supervision for IMT and specialty registrars.
- Of those who have worked with PAs, 66% were neutral or positive regarding PAs working as part of the MDT
- 53% of those currently working with PAs were neutral or positive about their understanding of the PA role
- On whether PAs were appropriately supervised, 56% of those currently working with PAs were neutral or positive compared with only 9% of those with no experience.
Voting on the five motions opens tonight – those eligible will receive an email from Civica – and closes at 7.30pm on Wednesday 20 March. During the voting period fellows will be able to watch the EGM on demand. A one-use link will be supplied by email on Thursday 14 March from our platform provider EckoEnterprise.
The results of the fellows’ vote will be announced on 25 March. They will then be discussed by RCP Council at an additional meeting in April and the Board of Trustees in June, where any necessary action plans will be developed. We will update RCP fellows and members on the next steps as soon as we can.