Doctors set to sue NHS watchdog 'for failing to curb cut-price medics' linked to recent deaths - in unprecedented case over NHS's reliance on physician associates A group of senior doctors are planning to sue the General Medical Council They claim the NHS has become increasingly reliant on physician associates PAs are medics with two years' training and are supposed to work with doctors By Jo Macfarlane Published: 00:58, 9 June 2024 | Updated: 01:00, 9 June 2024 e-mail View comments A group of senior doctors is planning to sue the General Medical Council in an unprecedented attack on the NHS 's growing reliance on physician associates (PAs). They claim that PAs – medics who have only two years' healthcare training and are supposed to work alongside doctors and GPs – are increasingly being used to plug staffing gaps in the Health Service. The group, Anaesthetists United, has raised more than £50,000 to take the GMC to court, claiming that its plan to start regulating the so-called 'cut-price medics' fails to set out clear rules over what PAs can and cannot do.
PAs are supposed to have limited responsibilities, including taking patients' medical histories, performing basic physical examinations and analysing test results, all of which should be carried out under the supervision of a doctor. Some PAs are also allowed to assist in the sedation of patients prior to surgery, and are known as anaesthesia associates (AAs). A group of senior doctors is planning to sue the General.