The GMC has opened the doors to Physician Associates (PAs) and Anaesthesia Associates (AAs) from several other countries to come to the UK.
The list of 15 countries includes Bangladesh, Ghana, Switzerland and the USA. The President of GACOPA announced this “groundbreaking milestone” as being a “pivotal moment in the harmonisation of the PA/Clinical Officer profession worldwide.
We are stunned that before the Leng review has even reached a decision on what the role of a PA in the UK should be, and before proper processes for assessing UK PA training programmes and exams are in place, that the GMC is prepared to accept IPAGs (International PA graduates) so quickly.
Our chief concern is that the role and Scope of Practice of PAs needs to be made clear; and yet people who trained abroad will have worked in a very environment. It is hard to see how induction processes for them will work when UK practice itself is in such a state of flux and turmoil.
When Parliament gave the role of Regulator to the GMC it required them to determine that the education or training provided and a qualification conferred by an institution other than one established in the United Kingdom, is acceptable for practising as an associate in the United Kingdom.
But rather than making the determination on an institution-by-institution basis they have instead taken the view that any qualification issued by a ‘recognised organisation’ in the country where it was delivered is automatically OK. The contrast with how UK Medical Schools are assessed is striking.
This is a very low bar.
Which courses are actually accredited is also unclear. For example in Ghana half of the courses have been derecognised.
To add insult to injury, several of the countries are listed in the code of practice for International Recruitment, which tries to ensure that developing countries should not be targeted when actively recruiting health or care professionals because they are short of medical and nursing staff.
Our legal challenge
We see this development as yet another reason why a Scope of Practice for PAs and AAs is absolutely essential.
We are crowdfunding a legal case on this, and will be grateful for donations from anyone concerned about standards of care in the NHS. Read about it here.