Physician Associates are a new healthcare professional, while not a doctor, work to the medical model, with the attitudes, skills and knowledge base to deliver holistic care and treatment within the general medical and/or general practice team under defined levels of supervision.
Although physician associates are dependent practitioners, they can also practice independently and make independent decisions. This is enabled by collaboration and supportive working relationships with their clinical supervisors, meaning that there is always someone who can discuss cases, give advice and review patients if necessary.
Physician Associate: NHS AfC: Band 7 | Apprentice Physician Associate: NHS AfC: Band 5
Reimbursement by GP contract
100% of actual salary plus defined on-costs, up to the maximum reimbursable amount of £63,792 over 12 months.
This video was created by NHS East of England.
Taking medical histories from patients
Performing physical examinations
Seeing patients with undifferentiated diagnoses
Seeing patients with long-term chronic conditions
Formulating differential diagnoses and management plans
Performing diagnostic and therapeutic procedures
Developing and delivering appropriate treatment and management plans
Requesting and interpreting diagnostic studies
Providing health promotion and disease prevention advice
National Assessment (MCQ) and OSCE ensure that all qualifying Physician Associates from whichever programme, have demonstrated the competencies required to practice which include for example:
History taking and consultation skills
General examination
Clinical judgement in diagnosis and management
Clinical planning and procedures
Following completion of initial training, all students undertake a 12 month preceptorship designed to consolidate core knowledge, skills and demonstrate competence
Develop and agree a personal development plan (PDP) utilising a reflective approach to practice, operating under appropriate clinical supervision
The following resources can be accessed via e-Learning for Healthcare (e-LfH). E-LfH provides free e-learning programmes which can support you in your professional development.
If you do not already have an account, click here to register using your NHS email address. If you already have an account, please use the same link to firstly log in to access the following resources.
Prevention and Health Improvement: This programme provide a variety of resources intended to help and support staff from a range of backgrounds in their contact with patients and their families. Resources cover prevention, health promotion and improvement, wellbeing in the workplace, physical activity, MECC, loneliness and social prescribing, behaviour change and sleep.
NHS continuing healthcare: This e-learning resource is designed to enhance and develop the knowledge and application of NHS Continuing Healthcare to all practitioners involved in the breadth of the process and to provide a uniform approach to a national standard.
Making Every Contact Count: is designed to support learners in developing an understanding of public health and the factors that impact on a person’s health and wellbeing. It focuses on how asking questions and listening effectively to people is a vital role for us all
Care Certificate: This programme offers learning materials to support the development of knowledge, skills and behaviours required to achieve all 15 Standards of the Care Certificate.
Work and Health Programme: This e-learning programme is intended to improve healthcare practitioner’s confidence to support patients with long term or chronic health conditions, via brief conversations in routine consultations.
This list is not exhaustive and the programmes available are regularly updated, so we recommend visiting the e-LfH portal and reviewing the available resources via using the “View full catalogue” function, or the “Search the e-learning" function.
As the medical supervisor is responsible for reviewing the PAs current knowledge and skills to develop the job plan, it is strongly recommended that this person has undertaken formal training in education and supervision to make sure the PAs learning needs are met. PCNs must identify a suitable named GP Supervisor for each Physician Associate, to enable them to work under appropriate clinical supervision. The GP Supervisor should be satisfied that adequate supervision, supporting governance and systems are in place and must take into account a PA's knowledge, skills and experience gained through their training and development.
The level of supervision and support will vary depending on the individual PA and their experience. This will influence how quickly they develop professionally. Adjustments to their support and supervision will be made on an individual basis through discussion and the use of the PA portfolio to evidence their development and acquisition of knowledge and skills at regular reviews and annual appraisal.
Physician associate students already have an undergraduate degree in a life science and/or a significant background in healthcare. To become a physician associate, you are required to take a 2-year full-time, intensive postgraduate course in medical science and clinical reasoning, which consists of 50% theory and 50% practice.
It includes over 1,400 hours of clinical placement experience in both acute and community settings. A new route via a 4-year undergraduate Masters programme will run subject to approval. Once qualified, physician associates must maintain 50 hours of CPD per year and sit a re-certification examination every 6 years.
The Faculty of Physician Associates strongly encourages all qualified physician associates to join the PA managed voluntary register (PAMVR), and all employers to ensure that the physician associates they employ are registered. As soon as the PA role is regulated a statutory register will be in place; those on the PAMVR are expected to be transferred, the title physician associate will become protected, and only those on the statutory register will legally be allowed to practice as a physician associate in the UK.
The FPA is now pleased to be launching a draft PA curriculum, which will support higher education institutions (HEIs) in the creation of PA programmes.
These standards, content maps and reports are designed to help course providers and their students understand the knowledge, behaviour and skills expected of newly qualified PAs and PAAs.
This plan highlights how Physician Associates play an important role within multidisciplinary teams and are identified as an important role for expansion.
This framework sets a standard and offers the opportunity for PAs to develop and evidence their knowledge and skills, setting out clear expectations about supervision at the different tiers of practice.
