The Royal College of Physicians has responded to the announcement of an independent review of the PA and AA professions.
Responding to the announcement of an independent review of the PA and AA professions, Dr Mumtaz Patel who is acting as RCP president said:
‘We welcome this announcement from the secretary of state for health and social care.
‘We have been calling for a limit to the pace and scale of roll out of the PA role and a review of how the PA role works since March 2024, when our fellows voted overwhelmingly in favour of a slowdown in the expansion of the PA role. Patient safety is our absolute priority. Many of our members have significant concerns about the safe deployment of PAs which is why we’ve called on system leaders to lead work to develop a national scope of practice, with input from royal colleges and specialist societies. It is good to see finally that PA scope of practice is going to have some focus.
‘We also welcome the news that the conclusions of the Leng review will inform the UK government’s workforce plans. The RCP has called on NHSE to increase postgraduate medical specialty places and prioritise more comprehensive and transparent workforce modelling in the 2025 refresh of the Long Term Workforce Plan.
‘We look forward to working with Professor Gillian Leng to explore how the PA role could contribute to safe, high quality patient care, with the right safeguards in place.’