The General Medical Council has submitted its response to the Leng Review about the use of physician and anaesthesia associates in England.

The General Medical Council (GMC) has submitted its response to Gillian Leng’s independent review of the physician associate (PA) and anaesthesia associate (AA) professions in England.

As Healthcare Today has reported in depth, The British Medical Association has long called the continued use of physician associates a patient safety scandal and in its own recommendations to the Leng Review accused the NHS of gambling with patient safety.

In its submission, the regulator emphasised the importance of statutory regulation for PAs and AAs because – as with any regulated healthcare profession – PAs and AAs undertake complex work that will pose some level of risk to the public, and regulation mitigates this risk.

The submission also argued that, as the multi-professional regulator for doctors, PAs and AAs, the GMC is well placed to work with others across the health system to identify and address issues that concern all three professions. For example, the availability of supervisors and student training placements.

A system-wide approach 

Since regulation began in December 2024 the GMC said that it has received more than 2,500 completed registration applications which represent approximately 47% of PAs and 61% of AAs on the voluntary registers. 

The GMC has registered 1,658 PAs and 70 AAs and says that these numbers are expected to grow over the coming months. 

More than 1,500 applications remain in progress. 

The regulator said that it has also been reviewing all PA and AA curricula and courses to make sure they meet our standards and the GMC’s Council will make the first decisions about which courses are formally approved this month. 

If the GMC does not have assurance that a course meets all its required standards it will recommend attaching conditions to that approval or not recommend them for approval at all. In these cases, the GMC said that it would work with course providers through a targeted action plan to address any concerns within an agreed timeframe.

“It is essential that a system-wide approach is taken to the ongoing deployment and development of PAs and AAs and that they are supported to practise safely, effectively and ethically,” said Charlie Massey, chief executive and registrar of the GMC.