The doctor's union, the British Medical Association
(BMA), say they're taking the General Medical Council (GMC) to court because
less medically qualified staff are being drafted into GP surgeries to replace
qualified doctor's. The BMA say they need to take action before this "uncontrolled experiment" in the use
of physician and anaesthetist associates, known as PA's and AA's "leads to more unintended patient harm."
Despite there having been a number of well publicised cases where patients have died following a misdiagnosis by PA's, the government and the NHS want to increase the number of PA's from 3,500 to 10,000. From December 2024, the GMC will become the regulator for both PA's and AA's. The GMC have already told doctor's that they will not be accountable for the medical errors of less qualified staff such as PA's and AA's providing doctor's follow GMC rules and guidance.
Although the BMA have stressed that they're acting in the interests of patients, they're more concerned with protecting the interests of doctor's. As the doctor's union, the BMA knows that the use of PA's and AA's who receive less training than doctors and are less qualified, threatens to de-skill and dumb--down medical practice in Britain and threatens the financial interests of their members.
Since the COVID lockdown in 2020, it has become more difficult for patients to get to see a qualified GP because many practices have stopped doing walk-in surgeries. Many GP's have also become reluctant to see patients face-to-face and now want to do virtual consultations by phone or Skype. This has led to increased pressure on NHS emergency services as more people are turning up at A&E. It has also led to increasing numbers of people paying to go private to obtain adequate medical care in order to jump the queue and to get a medical examination. The government say that it needs to increase the number of dilutees in the medical profession to ease the pressure on the NHS.
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