Alternative roles to a Physician Associate

[Whatevershoulhedo]

Hi

Just after some advice and not a general discussion on the rights and wrongs of the role.

Friend is currently about to sit the OSCE part of the PANE exam. It looks like the role is going to be abandoned - there are no jobs.

What else can they do within the NHS? Does anybody know of any conversion courses or even where to look? My friend does not want to be a doctor, they took this course after working in the NHS during the pandemic as a HCA, and genuinely thought the role would be a good fit to help support doctors and benefit patients. They really will be a huge loss to the NHS.

what other options might there be?

HCAs are still needed in the NHS. What about community work or private carer role?

Is the PA role really being abandoned?

I think it is by stealth. The Govt. won’t come out and say it, but funding will be cut, roles won’t be available etc

That's a shame. I really liked the sound of doing this role myself and looked into retraining a couple of years ago.

Sorry for your friend but the problem was that the previous government’s decision to subsidize PAs wages meant that practices were hiring allied health professionals like PAs instead of doctors. It wasn’t good value and hopefully there will be more jobs for doctors instead.
So many roles within the NHS…

I think it’s been a shit show. For patients, for doctors and for the individual PAs too. And for this who are just starting this course at uni too. The Gvmt needs to find their balls and either back the role or say it is no longer viable - not this head in sand approach.

Do you know where to look for possible conversion courses?

I think it's been dreadful too, but I think it might have worked better in other countries? Not sure.