Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to (a) bring forward legislative proposals to further regulate and (b) publish guidance on the (i) definition of the scope of practice and (ii) supervisory requirements for physician associates.

The legislation to introduce statutory regulation for Physician Associates (PAs) and Anaesthesia Associates (AAs) was debated in the Scottish Parliament and both Houses of Parliament earlier this year.

Regulation by the General Medical Council (GMC) will begin in December 2024. The GMC will set standards of practice, education, and training, and will operate fitness-to-practice procedures to ensure that PAs and AAs can be held to account if serious concerns are raised.

Whilst statutory regulation is an important part of ensuring patient safety, it is also achieved through robust clinical governance processes within healthcare organisations, which are required to have systems of oversight and supervision for their staff.

NHS England has issued clear guidance on the deployment of PAs and AAs in the National Health Service, which describes the expectations of how organisations providing NHS care should deploy them so that they can contribute to the delivery of safe and effective healthcare in a supportive environment. This guidance is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/summary-of-existing-guidance-on-the-deployment-of-medical-associate-professions-in-nhs-healthcare-settings/