The General Medical Council has set and clarified regulations for PAs and AAs ahead of new regulations which come in, in mid-December.
The General Medical Council (GMC) has set and clarified regulations for physician associates (PAs) and anaesthesia associates (AAs) following a consultation between March and May this year.
This follows a request from the government in July 2019 to regulate the two professional groups.
The new regulations come into play on 17 December and are detailed in a new report.
Changes include the introduction of a second GMC case examiner when making decisions on fitness to practise cases involving PAs or AAs; and behaviours indicative of serious misconduct have been expanded to include cases where a PA or AA has deliberately misled patients or others about their registered status.
There is also clarification on rules for entry, re-entry and removal from the PA and AA registers.
The report acknowledges that a lot of the feedback received, particularly from those who disagreed with the proposals, covered issues that were either outside the scope of the consultation or already settled in law.
There were more than 3,000 responses to the consultation from 2,930 individuals and 81 organisations.
“This was, by its nature, a very technical consultation. But the feedback we have received has been extensive and helpful,” says GMC chief executive Charlie Massey.
