NHS physician associates should not diagnose untriaged patients, review finds

The report recommends that physician associates should be renamed ‘physician assistants’ to give patients greater clarity. Photograph: Peter Byrne/PA

NHS physician associates should be banned from diagnosing patients who have not already been seen by a doctor, a government review has concluded.

The review calls for the government to overhaul the role of physician associates (PAs), who it says have been substituted for doctors to fill staffing gaps despite having significantly less training.