The Leng review into the safety and effectiveness of PAs (physician assistants) and AAs (anaesthesia assistants) has concluded the roles should be renamed ‘assistants’ and should not see or treat undifferentiated patients.
The independent review, led by Professor Gillian Leng, published its findings today in what the BMA has called an ‘inadequate response’ to ‘a patient safety scandal’.
Prof Leng concluded roles were introduced without sufficient evidence of the safety of these associate roles, with no attempt at a national level to integrate the roles safely.
The report recommended professional standards for doctors and associate roles should be ‘presented separately to reinforce and clarify the differences in roles from those of doctors’ and work in a ‘clear team structure, led by a senior clinician’.
Prof Leng did not, however, recommend a nationally agreed scope of practice for associates. The BMA said this meant she had ‘ignored the most urgent demand of the medical profession’.
The association said the review’s findings showed a ‘catastrophic failure in NHS leadership’, which put patients at risk of harm through the blurring of lines between doctors and non-doctors.