Anaesthesia Associates and Physician Associates: Regulation

(asked on 14th December 2023) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of regulating (a) anaesthesia and (b) physician associates through the General Medical Council on public perception of those roles.


Answered by
Andrew Stephenson Portrait
Andrew Stephenson
Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
This question was answered on 19th December 2023

The assessment of the appropriate regulatory body for physician associate (PA) and anaesthesia associate (AA) regulation was completed in 2019. On 7 February 2019, the Government published its response to the consultation on the Regulation of Medical Associate Professions in the United Kingdom, confirming its decision to introduce statutory regulation for PAs and AAs. Most respondents to the consultation were in favour of the General Medical Council (GMC) taking on regulation.

Following further work by the Department, on 18 July 2019, the Government announced that it would be asking the GMC to regulate both roles. No further assessments have been made of the potential merits of the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) regulating PAs and AAs and there have been no recent discussions with the HCPC on this matter.

Regulation by the GMC will mean that the organisation will have responsibility and oversight of all three professions allowing them to take a holistic approach to the education, training, and standards of the roles. This will enable a more coherent and co-ordinated approach to regulation and, by making it easier for employers, patients, and the public to understand the relationship between these roles and doctors, help to embed them in the workforce.

On 13 December 2023, the Department laid draft legislation in both Houses and in the Scottish Parliament that will empower the GMC to commence regulation for the two roles by the end of 2024.

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