What are Physician associates (PAs)

 

Physician associates (PAs) are healthcare professionals with a generalist medical education
who work alongside doctors and surgeons providing medical care as an integral part of the multidisciplinary team. PAs work under the supervision of a doctor but can work autonomously with appropriate support. The first PAs were formally introduced in 2003.

 

Putneymead employs four Physician Associates (PAs). They are integral members of our healthcare team, serving as versatile professionals who enhance patient care through their clinical skills and the support they provide to the GP team. They undergo clinical training within medical schools, which equips them to carry out a wide range of clinical tasks. Their scope of practice is clearly defined, and they work under the supervision of GPs to ensure patient safety.

 

Each patient that a PA sees in clinic has had their appointment request and notes reviewed by a GP to assess suitability for a PA appointment. In every clinic at the surgery, we have a named supervising GP who oversees all the PAs seeing patients. The supervising GP is on-site and physically available throughout the day for advice and support, and each consultation and case is reviewed by the supervising GP, with a record made of this in every patients’ medical records.

 

Our Physician Associates also support GP work in the management of long-term conditions, which is always supervised by a GP. In addition, PAs contribute to some administrative tasks alongside the on-call duty doctor team.

 

All our PAs have an annual internal appraisal with a GP Partner, where their career development and progress are discussed and supported.

 

We are aware of the BMA and GMC comments and guidelines regarding the Physician Associate role (2025) and are satisfied that our PAs work within the guidelines and parameters set out. We will continue to monitor and stay abreast of any further developments or guidance issued by the BMA and GMC to ensure our approach remains aligned with national standards.

What do physician associates do?

PAs are trained to work within a defined scope of practice and limits of competence to perform the following duties:

  • taking medical histories from patients
  • carrying out physical examinations
  • seeing patients with undifferentiated diagnoses
  • seeing patients with long-term chronic conditions
  • formulating differential diagnoses and management plans
  • carrying out diagnostic and therapeutic procedures
  • developing and delivering appropriate treatment and management plans
  • requesting and interpreting diagnostic studies
  • providing health promotion and disease prevention advice for patients.

However, currently PAs are not able to:

  • prescribe
  • request ionising radiation (eg chest X-ray or CT scan).

What training and qualifications do physician associates have?

PAs trained in the UK have undertaken postgraduate medical training in PA studies. These studies are spread over a period of at least 90 weeks (approximately 3,200 hours, divided into 1,600 hours of theory and 1,600 hours of clinical practice).

This is an intensive two-year course based on the Competence and Curriculum Framework for the PA, consisting of theoretical learning in medical sciences, pharmacology and clinical reasoning, as well as clinical placement experience in a wide variety of settings.

To enrol on a PA programme, students must already hold an undergraduate degree, usually in a biomedical or health/ life science field and have some prior health or social care experience.

We have four dedicated Physician Associates at Putneymead:

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