Primary Care UK: Let's Learn Together is the podcast for the busy Healthcare Professional who wants to keep up-to-date with important topics relevant to working in the NHS and even more so in Primary Care.
The episodes in Primary Care UK are hosted by a variety of clinicians who ensure that each episode is truly multi-professional, aiming to serve the needs of: GPs, Nurses, and all the AHPs (Allied Health Professionals) including Clinical Pharmacists, Physician Associates, First Contact Physiotherapists and Paramedics, Nursing Associates, other doctors, Advanced Clinical Practitioners, Mental Health Practitioners and trainees and students of the above. Coverage includes:
Clinical updates System updates Understanding the Workforce (us!) Supervising & Support Personal wellbeing & enjoying work
I’m not a doctor or PA, I don’t even work in healthcare, but I do advise students studying biomed and related degrees on getting into these roles so thanks for the insight. Very informative.
Before comparing Doctors vs. PA, one should go to medical school to check how a doctor is made in the factory. The doctor is a doctor, and nothing can be compared to them. If NHS thinks they can replace the doctor with PA, then they can do it, and Patients will decide how they want to be treated.
Unsafe and unwise. Why on earth are these PA posts being foisted onto us when highly trained GP’s cannot find a job. My GP practice wants to hire another GP, the health authority is trying to force them to take a PA. It is ridiculous that a PA is allowed to diagnose, I refuse to see one, and when my husband was in hospital checked whether the person who approached was a qualified doctor or simply a PA.
Physician associates in America. We call them physician assistant, a team member of a healthcare system. They can do 70 to 80%. For the Doctor can do they can prescribe medications. They can diagnose and they can order treatment. Include an X-ray and CT scans. The NH s needs a lot of help.
PA is either uneconomical or unsafe. Uneconomic - paying someone at 8a to do work that requires repeating/significant oversight Unsafe - PA doesn't have work checked/less closely supervised= things go missed.
What exactly are the redundant parts of a medical degree? The anatomy, pathology or physiology? What about the less common conditions? How rare does a condition have to be for it to be "redundant" knowledge?
I’d love to know how a PA, who hasn’t studied medicine, has decided that much of what is taught in a medicine degree is ‘redundant’. Would that be the ‘nitty gritty’? The details that enable doctors to think critically, or outside of protocols? Not all patients present as textbook barn door cases and it takes more that two years to be able to be able to diagnose. This just illustrates the naivety, and lack of knowledge PAs have for the job that govt wants them to do.
A lot of us share the concerns about how safe the future of patient care might be if appropriate supervision and governance processes are not in place. But also, whilst once a 5 year degree was necessary, and despite expansion of knowledge, there are a number of 4 year medical degree options coming in. .. for better or for worse?
@primarycareukpodcast from what I've been told by my post grad colleagues who did 4 year degrees - they just compile all 5 years into 4 years. So they're still covering the entire curriculum. Hence these 4 years are supposed to be much tougher than the 5 year courses
He's right to say that when things go wrong, it's often a systematic failure. The failure here is the system allowing people without the prequisite knowledge to see patients.
We've tried really hard to provide an authentic and transparent perspective, with all the flaws of sounding somewhat unprofessional, clumsy and opinionated. We didn't feel that providing a polished and professional scripted narrative would reflect the truth about how people feel and what their mindset it, at this difficult and confusing time. Do you feel it captures how people feel about the problem?
