Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she is taking steps to increase public awareness of the (a) roles and (b) competencies of (i) anaesthesia and (ii) physician associates in the NHS.

Anaesthesia associates (AAs) and physician associates (PAs) are integral parts of the multi-disciplinary healthcare team. The Government greatly values the work of AAs and PAs and is introducing regulation as part of our commitment to the roles, and to their place in the multi-disciplinary workforce.

The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan sets out significant expansion of the roles over the coming years, as part of plans to grow the multi-disciplinary workforce. The Government and NHS England are undertaking extensive engagement around this expansion to increase public and patient understanding of the roles and how they contribute to safe, effective patient care.

In primary care, NHS England has produced patient-facing materials that have been shared widely with general practices to support patient awareness and understanding of the PA role.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines set out that all healthcare professionals directly involved in a patient's care should introduce themselves and explain to the patient the roles and responsibilities of the different members of the healthcare team.

In advance of their regulation by the General Medical Council (GMC) later this year, the GMC has published interim standards for AAs and PAs which make it clear that professionals should always introduce their role to patients and set out their responsibilities in the team.