The Department of Health is seeking views on the regulation of medical associate professions (MAPs) in the UK.
Deadline for submissions
Friday 22 December 2017
Consultation description
Full details of the consultation can be found here.
Rising demands for medical treatment and advances in clinical care requires a co-ordinated approach and greater skill mix within NHS healthcare teams.
In recent years the health service has seen the emergence and increased use of new professional roles within multi-disciplinary teams as part of a continuing drive to provide safe, accessible and high-quality care for patients.
Four of these roles are:
- physician associate (PA)
- physicians’ assistant (anaesthesia) (PA(A))
- surgical care practitioner (SCP)
- advanced critical care practitioner (ACCP)
- As these professionals become more widely employed, it is necessary to explore the options for professional regulation.
This consultation seeks your views on the following proposals:
- To introduce statutory regulation for PAs
- To seek further evidence on the most proportionate level of regulation for PA(A)s
- To seek views on the position that statutory regulation of the SCP and ACCP roles is not proportionate, and whether alternative options for professional assurance should be considered
A consultation document and a risk assessment profile from Health Education England (HEE) are published alongside this consultation.
Responses
We will be considering whether to submit a formal HealthWatch response and we encourage our members to think about their own personal response.
Responses can be submitted here.
Questions
Do you feel that HealthWatch should respond to this consultation?
Do you have any suggestions about what we should say in our response?
Could you help us coordinate or write our response, particularly if you have expertise in this area?
If you submit your own personal response, could you send us a copy to help us formulate our response?
Contact
If you are able to help us, or require any further information, please contact our consultations coordinator, Roger Fisken.