Former Green Party leader says Labour’s support is needed for chance of defeating DHSC move to push ‘associate’ roles that look like doctors but don’t have medical training
Green peer and former Green Party leader Natalie Bennett has heeded the calls of doctors – and independent MP Claudia Webbe, the only MP to speak against the government’s backdoor legislation when it was pushed through – to stop the government’s dangerous new move to have ‘physician associates’ (PAs) and ‘anaesthetist associates’ (AAs) regulated by the General Medical Council (GMC), despite them not having medical training.
90% of doctors believe this move puts patients at risk and at least two patients have died after PAs, who the patients thought were doctors, dismissed serious medical conditions as a muscle strain and a panic attack respectively.
Bennett has tabled what is known as a ‘fatal motion’ in the House of Lords to try to kill the ‘statutory instrument’ the government has used to avoid proper parliamentary scrutiny – but says the motion won’t succeed without support from Labour party peers:
The move has been welcomed by doctors’ groups:
Tragically, Keir Starmer and his sidekick Wes Streeting appear to have completely embraced the Tories’ plans for the thinning out and further privatisation of the NHS – and have taken large donations from private health companies – and they are unlikely to tell peers to support Ms Bennett’s move, but the attempt at least raises awareness of how dangerous this change, which is part of the cheapening and reduction of the NHS ‘skill mix’ to allow for greater private profits, really is.
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Going by Starmer’s Labours past performance and its support for NHS “reform” and looking at those who sit on the Labour benches in the House of Lords – Mann Austin McNicholl Smeeth etc – my guess is the won’t support the Greens motion
Sad dangerous times ahead when you got to ask staff at health centres and clinics for their professional ID to ensure you are actually being seen and prodded by a medically qualified person, ie a gp, a proper nurse.
What can patients do to prevent being victim in a must-never-happen event? Threaten with legal action (politicians, health trusts, staff) ????
Anyone defending or promoting this hare-brained scheme of PAs and similar need their head examining.
It was always on the cards, especially when the likes of sport scientists and dental nurses were allowed to double up as assessors for mental health patients claiming disability benefits.
Now they’re just taking the piss.
They’ll be having f***ing nail technicians and dog groomers as surgeons & anesthetists, next.
Talking of green issues….On the VERY DAY the EU’s climate change committee have stated that global temperatures rose by 1.5°C for an entire year, keef smarmer’s labour decide to ditch YET ANOTHER pledge, this one on spending £28bn on green investment.
(long pause) …SHAME!!!
A reminder of the charlatan’s pledge to get elected:
3. Climate justice
Put the Green New Deal at the heart of everything we do. There is no issue more important to our future than the climate emergency. A Clean Air Act to tackle pollution locally. Demand international action on climate rights.
Smarmer and the word/concept of justice are wholly incompatible.
Patient Safety is the issue.
Thank goodness that independent MP Claudia Webbe and Green peer Bennett are doing their best to publicise the threat to doctors and patients that both Starmer’s Labour and the Government champion.
BMA position statement on physician associates and anaesthesia associates see this for what it is:
1) Anti-doctor, and
2) Anti-patient.
“The issues with PAs and AAs go beyond professional title and choice of regulator. Their use and planned expansion challenges what it means to be a doctor, reflects how the medical profession has been devalued, and demonstrates how the health system is seeking to undermine it in favour of colleagues with less training, skills and expertise.
“It is clear from the NHS Long term Workforce Plan in England that these roles are due to expand significantly. Members are also seeing expansion in Scotland and Wales. Doctors, PAs and AAs are distinct professions and must be treated as such. Yet parts of the NHS declare that PA training involves aspects of both undergraduate medical education and postgraduate medical training.
“All health professionals working in the NHS should be paid properly, but it is clearly wrong that a newly qualified doctor entering postgraduate training is paid over £11,000 less per year than a newly qualified PA, while the doctor’s role, remit and professional responsibility is far greater. We estimate that this is a 35% differential, which is manifestly unjust. We will continue our fight for fair pay for all doctors working in the NHS.”
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https://www.bma.org.uk/news-and-opinion/bma-position-statement-on-physician-associates-and-anaesthesia-associates