The deskilling of Britain's medical profession

 

The medical profession in the UK is being quietly deskilled. Since the COVID lockdown in 2020, many GP's have become notoriously fickle and have eschewed face-to-face contact with their patients, even though their pay has increased incrementally. You might say they've been cutting their own throats with a blunt razor, slowly putting themselves out of work. Consequently, much cheaper and less medically qualified people such as 'Physician Associates' (PA's) and 'Anaesthetist Associates' (AA's), are now being allowed to do much of a doctor's work.

Already, in General Practice, patients are finding it difficult to see a qualified doctor and are being referred to nursing practitioners, physiotherapists, nurses, and even pharmacists. The new roles are all part of the Tories' so-called 'NHS Workforce Plan' a cunning scheme that aims to rapidly create lots of less skilled positions that patients think are doctors but who are less medically qualified people.

Some medical professionals have warned of the inherent dangers for patients in seeing less medically qualified staff who may misdiagnose, a medical problem. Other have warned of the dangers of 'scope creep'. There have been instances of Physician Associates undertaking neurosurgery.

At least two deaths have already been linked by coroners to incorrect diagnosis by P.A.'s. Emily Chesterton, a 30-year-old woman from Salford, was diagnosed with a calf-strain but died of an embolism. Ben Peters, aged 25, died of a heart hemorrhage after being diagnosed with a panic attack and gastric inflammation. In November 2022, he had attended the emergency department at Manchester Royal Infirmary with chest pain, arm ache, a sore throat, and shortness of breath, symptoms which are associated with myocardial infarction (a heart attack). While waiting in A&E, he had endured a "severe episode of vomiting." He was seen by a non-medical school trained physician associate but not a doctor, who diagnosed a panic attack. A supervising consultant, who never saw Mr. Peters, agreed with the diagnosis.