Judicial review to be heard around Physician Associates

The judicial review will be heard in the High Court and focuses on the role of PAs and seeks to end the confusion between doctors and non-doctors.

PAs were introduced to help doctors by taking on some clinical tasks under supervision, but are not trained to the same standards doctors are and their role is in an assistant capacity.

Yet increasingly within healthcare, they are being used to diagnose, treat and manage patients – and often patients are not aware they have seen a PA rather than a doctor.

The High Court case has been brought by the campaign group Anesthetists United, alongside the family of Emily Chesterton, a 30-year-old woman who died after seeing a PA who she believed was a GP. The unsupervised PA failed to recognise she had a life-threatening condition.

The judicial review is asking the High Court to declare the GMC’s current approach must be urgently revised to enable patients to know who is treating them, delivering greater standards of patient safety.

Law firm Slater and Gordon is a passionate advocate for patient safety, and supports the stance taken in the legal challenge.

Nadia Saber, senior associate in clinical negligence at Slater and Gordon, says: “It is fundamental to the delivery of healthcare and the safety of patients that appropriate medical professionals are providing care, rather than those who do not have the requisite experience to deliver this.

“We have already seen avoidable deaths as a result of a failure to do this, such as the tragedy of Emily Chesterton, and we simply must do everything in our power to protect patients, and not leave them under the impression they have received appropriate advice when in fact they could be at risk – and could face the most devastating consequences.

“The current situation is very worrying and clarity is urgently needed, for the protection of all patients who put their trust in the NHS.”