Consultation outcome

Regulating anaesthesia associates and physician associates

This was published under the 2022 to 2024 Sunak Conservative government
This consultation has concluded

Read the full outcome

Detail of outcome

The consultation sought views on the legislative provisions that will give the General Medical Council (GMC) the necessary powers to regulate anaesthesia associates and physician associates in the UK.

The legislation provides a high-level regulatory framework and gives the GMC more autonomy to set out the details of its regulatory procedures in its rules. The draft legislation will also pave the way for full scale reform of the regulatory frameworks of all the healthcare professional regulators by providing a template upon which we can build.


Original consultation

Summary

We are seeking views on the legislation that will enable the GMC to regulate anaesthesia associates (AAs) and physician associates (PAs) in the UK.

This consultation ran from
to

Consultation description

This consultation seeks views on the anaesthesia associates and physician associates order (the draft order) that will give the General Medical Council (GMC) the necessary powers and duties to regulate AAs and PAs in the UK.

We’ve drafted the legislative provisions on the basis of the detailed policy proposals set out in the government’s response to the Regulating healthcare professionals, protecting the public consultation.

As well as bringing AAs and PAs into regulation, this consultation also paves the way for full scale reform of the regulatory frameworks of all the healthcare professional regulators. This is a rare and significant opportunity to deliver a large-scale programme of reform that will implement improvements to the system of professional regulation, to the health and care workforce and, most importantly, to patient and public safety.

As such, we encourage professionals, employers, regulatory bodies and training providers to fully engage with this consultation. The resultant legislation will provide a template for the subsequent regulatory legislative reforms.

Documents

Annex A: anaesthesia associates and physician associates draft order 2023

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Updates to this page

Published 17 February 2023
Last updated 16 September 2024 + show all updates
  1. Changed 3 article numbers under 'Article 7: powers relating to the periodic assessment of associates (revalidation)'.

  2. In the consultation response, under 'Appeal to a panel', 'Fitness to practise decisions', added "article 10(3) - where a case examiner determines that an associate’s fitness to practise is not impaired but issues a warning", as this was missing from the published version.

  3. Added consultation response.

  4. First published.

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