Physician associate role should be changed to prevent ‘catastrophic’ misdiagnosis, says report

Physician associates (PAs) should be banned from seeing patients who have not been reviewed by a medic to prevent the risk of “catastrophic” misdiagnoses, a Government-ordered report has found.

The study suggests a major change to the role of PAs after it acknowledged they have been used as substitutes for doctors, despite having significantly less training.

More than 3,500 PAs and 100 anaesthesia associates (AAs) are working in the NHS and there have been previous calls for an expansion in their number.

But a general lack of support for the roles from the medical profession, plus high-profile deaths of patients who were misdiagnosed by PAs, led Health Secretary Wes Streeting to order a review.