There are “considerable barriers” to the widespread use of physician associates in general practice, researchers warn today.
GPs have serious concerns about how the associates will respond to patients with medical complexity, according to the study in the British Journal of General Practice.
Researchers at Sheffield University, which offers a diploma for physician associates, set out to examine views of GPs, patients and advanced nurse practitioners on the introduction of the associates.
Some 51 people took part in eight focus groups.
One advanced nurse practitioner asked: “Are they going to be an underpaid doctor or an overpaid nurse?”
A GP stated: “The sceptics in us would say, yes, it is a deliberate attempt to undermine general practice.”
The researchers, led by Dr Ben Jackson, conclude that associates will not be a “quick fix” for the pressures on general practice.
They say there is a lack of understanding about the associate role and that there are regulatory barriers to their introduction.
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