It is a difficult time for physician associates right now.  The current barrage of criticism from across the media continues to scale up, and being in the midst of it must be extremely disconcerting and isolating.

The current storm appeared to start back in July, when Pulse magazine reported how a practice in North London had decided to stop employing physician associates following an incident in which a patient died after seeing their physician associate.  This incident was then picked up by Labour MP Barbara Keeley, who raised the issue in parliament.

Since then the media criticism of physician associates has been unrelenting (e.g. this, published on Saturday, where a reporter has trawled though the Physician Associate podcast episodes to create a negative story, or this in the ever-unhelpful Daily Mail).

The medical profession has concerns about physician associates.  This BMJ article explains them pretty well, that patients can be confused as to who they have seen, and the amount of supervision required to ensure safe care.  The safety concerns are particularly great in general practice, where the partners are ultimately liable for the decisions made by all of those in their clinical team.  The problem is that the current (negative) media coverage has prompted these concerns to be liberally aired, which in turn has served to fuel the fires.

Imagine you are a physician associate working in general practice in the midst of all of this.  It cannot be easy.  I spoke to physician associate James Catton recently on the podcast about what it is like, and he said, “I have never seen the backlash or the level of issues being brought up across social media that are anti-PA.  It’s been pretty brutal these last few months to see… It’s not a great time to be a PA.  A lot of PAs feel there is sometimes a target on our back at the moment”.

You probably would not know it, but this week (w/c 6/10) is physician associate week.  This was the fanfare surrounding the week last year on the Faculty of Physician Associate’s website.  This year there is nothing.  Unsurprisingly physician associates want to keep a low profile.  So just at the time when normally there would be some additional national support there isn’t any.  Just the constant media criticism.

Maybe you have your own reservations about physician associates.  That is understandable.  It is a relatively new profession, that still does not have regulation in place, and that is still trying to find its place in the wider health system.

But physician associates are not a luxury.  There are not enough GPs to manage the (growing) workload, and there never will be enough.  In 2016 the government pledged 5,000 additional GPs, and in 2019 this target was upped to 6,000.  Despite a huge investment in training numbers the amount of GPs remains static, as the number leaving continues to match the numbers entering the profession.  In an ideal world there would be enough GPs, but given that is not a realistic possibility different roles are now a necessity.  For its own sake, general practice needs to make these new roles work.

And, ideologies aside, there are people in these roles now – an estimated 2,000 currently working across general practice.  The concerns about their role are largely outside of their control.  They have taken on a role in good faith, and now feel like they are being pilloried for it.  They feel under fire.  They need help, support and encouragement.

Maybe we should approach physician associate week differently this year.  Maybe it should be about taking time out to provide some support to those physician associates that are working with us, to say that we recognise the personal challenge the current situation must present, and to let them know their efforts are appreciated.  A little support now could go a long way in future.