26.08.14
Clarity needed over role of doctors’ assistants – BMA
Increasing the number of doctors’ assistants can bring value to the NHS, so long as the scope of what they do is clear, the British Medical Association (BMA) has stated. Reports Abigail Lillicrap.
This comes after the government announced a recruitment drive last week to hire more doctors’ assistants to try and take pressure off a “straining NHS”.
The doctors’ assistants will have two years of intensive training instead of the seven completed by doctors, and will provide support in the diagnosis and management of patients in hospitals.
Currently, there are 105 training places on schemes for these roles in the UK, but the government is pushing to have this doubled, opening new schemes in areas such as Plymouth and Birmingham.
The reason for this increase, according to the Department of Health, is to give extra support to doctors while reducing their workload.
However, this has caused many healthcare professionals to worry that through using doctors’ assistants, the standard of care could decrease.
Dr Mark Porter, chair of the BMA Council, said: “Only doctors can provide certain types of care so the government needs to ensure that standards won't be affected by these changes and the quality of patient care will be protected and maintained.”
Another concern is that hospital managers will become reliant on doctors’ assistants to fill out staff shortages as they require less pay.
Dr Porter added: “Crucially, these new posts cannot replace doctors and while they may alleviate some pressure on the system the government also need to address the funding as well as recruitment and retention crisis which is adding to pressure on emergency medicine.”
The role of a doctors’ assistant is limited, as they are not allowed to provide care without a doctor present and cannot prescribe drugs or complete X-rays. However, the health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, believes this role allows another pathway into medicine for top graduates.
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