Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent guidance her Department has issued to NHS Trusts on the integration of physician associates into healthcare teams.

NHS England has worked with royal colleges and the General Medical Council (GMC) to develop appropriate curricula, core capability and career frameworks, standards for continued professional development, assessment and appraisal and supervision guidance for the physician associate (PA) role.

NHS England continues to work with partners, including the GMC and medical royal colleges, to ensure that PAs can be effectively trained and integrated into teams across a range of specialties through the ongoing development of national standards, a defined scope of practice, and assessment of educational capacity.