Concern as NHS Grampian recruit for physician associate pressandjournal.co.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from pressandjournal.co.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Trish Greenhalgh says an urgent inquiry is needed to investigate how the Royal College of Physicians of London has handled the debate on physician associates
The Royal College of Physicians of London (RCP) was established over 500 years ago to uphold professional standards in medicine, but now seems bent on lowering them. Senior officers appear to have engaged in Orwellian tactics to try to push through physician associate (PA) roles with scant attention given to patient safety. In the wake of an outcry over how the college has handled the PA debate, particularly after a contentious emergency general meeting (EGM) held earlier this month,1 an independent inquiry is urgently needed to investigate the questions of governance that face the college.
Chief among these questions is the college’s ability to represent and advocate for its members’ views on PAs. The college took on hosting the Faculty of Physician Associates in 2015 a time when the PA role was constructed primarily as ass
What comes next after the extraordinary general meeting on physician associates at the RCP? bmj.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from bmj.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Members and fellows of the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) have voted overwhelmingly to limit the pace and scale of the rollout of physician associates (PAs) a result that has exposed a rift between grassroot doctors and the college and led to calls for the resignation of its president.
On 13 March a fractious extraordinary general meeting (EGM) was held to debate matters relating to PAs. Members and fellows expressed concern that RCP had presented data from a members’ survey about PAs in a biased way.1
RCP hosts the Faculty of Physician Associates and receives membership and examination fees from PAs.
Voting on five motions closed on 20 March and the college said because of the importance of the ballot they had decided to release the results immediately, instead of 25 March as planned. Four motions covering PAs scope of practice, accountability, evaluation, and impact on training opportunities were passed with between 95.6% and 96.9% of the vote.
The controversy centred on the