Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many physician associates currently working in the NHS or in private healthcare have not passed the Physician Associate National Examination; and whether they plan to ensure that physician associates currently working have passed it before the deadline for registering with the General Medical Council in December 2026.

The Department does not hold data on how many Physician Associates (PAs) currently working in the National Health Service or in private healthcare have not passed the Physician Associate National Examination (PANE).

Statutory regulation of PAs and Anaesthesia Associates (AAs) by the General Medical Council (GMC) has begun. The GMC has made it a mandatory registration requirement for all PAs to have passed the PANE. Under the Anaesthesia Associate and Physician Associate Order, PAs and AAs must join the GMC register or cease practising by December 2026.