GMC statement in response to BMA threat of legal action

We reported that the BMA has launched legal action against the GMC in a bid to stop, what the BMA said was “the ‘dangerous blurring of the lines’ between highly skilled and trained doctors and the MAPs” (medical associate professions).

Speaking at the BMA annual representative meeting, council chair Phil Banfield (pictured above) said the association would not stand for the Government and NHS leadership ‘eroding’ the profession any further.

The BMA has argued physician and anaesthesia associates – who complete a two-year course rather than a five-year medical degree – need regulating, but that the GMC is not the right organisation to do this.

Speaking in response, a GMC spokesperson said:

‘We have responded to the BMA today, strongly rejecting the basis on which they have threatened to bring legal proceedings. We believe the grounds for the threatened judicial review are not even arguable.’

‘We have extensively and formally consulted with the BMA over several years in relation to the core standards to be set for PAs and AAs, Good medical practice. From as early as 2021 we made the BMA and others aware of our intention to apply our core professional standards to doctors, PAs and AAs, and received no objections from them at all. Our approach, in publishing a single set of core standards, is consistent with that of other multiprofession healthcare regulators.’

‘The term ‘medical professionals’, which we have adopted to describe all the professional groups we will regulate, is not a protected title, and our use of it is both lawful and appropriate.’

‘We have made it very clear we will recognise and regulate doctors, PAs and AAs as three distinct professions. We have also been consistent in saying that, as their regulator, we will expect PAs and AAs to always work under some degree of supervision and to practise within their competence. They will have a responsibility to clearly communicate who they are, and their role in the team.’

‘To register with us, PAs and AAs will also need to show that they have the knowledge, skills, and experience to treat patients safely, and that there are no outstanding concerns about their fitness to practise. Bringing PAs and AAs into regulation will help to assure patients, colleagues and employers that they are safe to practise and can be held to account if serious concerns are raised.’

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