The ‘physician associate’ will see you now…
There is a war being waged in NHS hospitals. On one side are overstretched junior doctors in understaffed wards. On the other: physician associates (PAs) or, to use the more disparaging term, ‘noctors’. Since 2003, non-medical graduates have been able to gain entry to hospital wards and GP practices if they complete a two-year clinical course that leaves them a ‘physician associate’ or ‘anaesthesia associate’. At first, PAs were rare – ten years ago there were fewer than 150 in England. Since the pandemic, however, the numbers have exploded. There are now approximately 4,000 PAs working in England and Wales. PAs are supposed to help doctors with the time-consuming administrative
