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‘It devalues us’: Physician assistant roles raising concerns
A new push to expand the use of PAs has triggered fears the role will expand in Australia, which the RACGP says is to the detriment of GPs.
GPs are concerned workforce shortages will be filled with less qualified physician assistants.
The RACGP is ‘deeply concerned’ by a new ‘Business Case for Change’ proposing the further rollout of physician assistants (PAs) in Australian healthcare.
It comes after a Queensland hospital service published the proposal for the change, a plan RACGP President Nicole Higgins said echoes the controversial use of PAs in the NHS and spells trouble for general practice.
‘This raises red flags at a time when our system is undergoing reform, ,’ she told newsGP.
‘In the NHS physician assistants are used as a less qualified, cheaper workforce solution that have been used as substitutes for doctors.
‘That has created huge problems and undermined the NHS health system, and resulted in many NHS GP refugees fleeing to Australia and other countries to practice.’
In the Business Case, the Sunshine Coast Hospital and Health Service (SCHHS) asked for funding for a PA role in emergency departments.
SCHHS runs five hospitals in Southeast Queensland and six health centres.
The RACGP says greater adoption of the physician assistant role in Australia, and a potential move to replace doctors with physician assistants, will confuse patients and worsen health outcomes.
The college has already raised concerns about role substitution and highly trained doctors being replaced as part of the Federal Government’s Scope of Practice Review.
Dr Higgins said she does not believe PAs are the right fit to address the country’s current workforce shortages.
‘This is not acceptable in Australia,’ she said.
‘They UK have traded off quality and safety PAs who are cheaper and quicker to train. We should not do the same in Australia.
‘It devalues us as GPs.’
The college has had long-held concerns about GPs’ scope of practice in Australia and the direction of a new review investigating the matter.
Earlier this year, the BMJ published an opinion piece warning that the NHS is ‘facing a crisis’ and ‘at issue is the creation of new groups of health workers called physician associates’.
‘Originally PAs were envisaged as assistants to doctors to increase their productivity by relieving them of some routine tasks,’ it reads.
‘However, in many hospitals and general practices they are being deployed to replace doctors, taking on increasingly complex roles, including the assessment and management of patients with undiagnosed problems.
The RACGP has issued a position statement on the role of PAs, concluding that ‘it is not appropriate to broaden the introduction of the physician assistant role in Australia’.
‘Increasing physician assistants may reduce numbers of GPs and resourcing for the current health workforce roles in rural health,’ it states.
The Queensland Department of Health has been contacted for comment.
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