GMC approves 36 PA and AA courses

The General Medical Council (GMC) has published details of the 36 courses given formal approval to teach physician associates (PAs) and anaesthesia associates (AAs).

It is the first time course providers have been subject to formal quality assurance by the regulator. The GMC took on the regulation of PAs and AAs in December last year, and overseeing and approving training courses is a key component.

It means patients, employers and colleagues can be assured that PAs and AAs have the required knowledge and skills to practise safely once they qualify.

In total, the GMC has approved 33 PA courses. Four of those – Bradford, Greater Manchester, Queen Mary University of London and Sheffield Hallam – have been approved with conditions.

Conditions mean that while the courses have met the GMC’s standards and students will be eligible to apply for registration, some concerns were identified during the approval process. Each of these courses now has a targeted action plan in place to ensure those concerns are addressed.

The regulator has not granted approval to one PA course, at the University of East London, as it does not yet meet the required standards due to concerns about the quality of teaching and course delivery.

As a result, the course provider will defer awarding qualifications to current students, and pause recruitment of new students, until the GMC is assured its standards are being met. The GMC will work closely with course leaders, educators and students at East London to monitor progress and ensure necessary improvements are made.

Only three AA courses currently operate in the UK, and all were approved by the GMC.

Ahead of regulation coming into effect, the GMC’s quality assurance team has been engaging with all existing course providers to assess whether they meet its standards.

All decisions were ratified by the GMC Council at a meeting earlier this month.

Professor Colin Melville, the GMC’s Medical Director and Director of Education and Standards, said:

‘This is an important milestone in the regulation of PAs and AAs and will provide assurance, now and in the future, that those who qualify in these roles have the appropriate skills and knowledge that patients rightly expect and deserve.

‘As a regulator, patient safety is paramount, and we have a robust quality assurance process for PA and AA courses, as we do for medical schools. We have been engaging with course providers for several years already, and we only grant approval where they meet our high standards.’

The GMC assessed all course providers against its standards. Compliance was assessed through the following quality assurance activities.

Two annual returns from each course provider, in which they provided information against each of the standards in describing how they met that standard.

At least one in-person visit with each course provider. Typically, these involved meeting the programme management team, year one and year two students, academic and clinical educators and representatives of clinical placement providers.

The review of a submission from each course provider mapping their course syllabus against the relevant national curriculum for PA or AA education.

The courses have a combined capacity for up to 1,059 PAs and 42 AAs (1,101 in total) to qualify each year.

Since the regulation of existing PAs and AAs began in December last year, 2,082 PAs and 786 AAs have been granted registration with the GMC. A further 786 PAs and AAs have submitted their application, and 1,325 are in progress but not yet submitted.

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