The demand for Physician Associates in primary care

By Ciaran Fletcher

Primary Care and Physician Associates

Physician Associates (PAs) are very much in demand in primary care right now. They are a valuable asset for any surgery to take on with the assuredness that their patient base will benefit, as well as their current clinical staff.

Physician Associates go through a great deal of study and training to get them to be the clinical professionals that they are. Once qualified, they are able to see a wide range of conditions and ailments that a multitude of patients may be suffering with. One of the many great reasons for a GP practice to employ a Physician Associate is to help reduce pressure on GPs (something we all know is a serious problem across the UK).

GPs are sometimes expected to see patients about various issues, whether it be a minor ailment such as a cough, or to see a patient with a chronic disease for a long-term condition review. Contacts like these take GPs away from the more serious and specialised areas they can help patients with, be it identifying moles on the skin, or assessing lumps and bumps. PAs can take this workload away from GPs. They can focus on both of these areas, sometimes spending morning sessions running a minor illness clinic and spending the afternoon seeing long-term condition reviews.

“most clinical members of staff within a GP practice are aided by and benefit from having a Physician Associate on the team”

Having a clinician who can see a combination of these areas not only helps the GPs at a practice, but also Practice Nurses, who would then not be required to see quite as many long-term condition reviews and instead could focus more on baby immunisations, sexual health, smears and so on.

Nurse Practitioners are also helped as the sometimes-endless duty lists that they deal with can be seen to by PAs as well, be it by the telephone or seeing a patient face-to-face. Overall, most clinical members of staff within a GP practice are aided by and benefit from having a Physician Associate on the team.

Contributing to the practice

Considering their many wonderful assets and contributions that they can make to a GP practice; Physician Associates command a very reasonable salary. For someone who can help to ease the workload from more than one clinical area, they don’t exactly ‘break the bank’ for a surgery to get onboard.

Salaries tend to average between £40,000 up to £45,000 per annum, with the odd outlier being slightly higher. A practice that pays this salary will get a great deal of work for their money. If a group of practices wants to take on a PA for a PCN role, it is made even easier thanks to ARRS funding too!

Appointing a Physician Associate to your practice

If you’ve read this article and want to look to appoint a Physician Associate to your practice, get in touch with Menlo Park Recruitment, where you will speak with either Ciaran, Rohan or Jasmine depending on your geographical region, who will be more than happy to assist you in finding not only a PA, but the right PA for your practice and your patients!

You can call us on 0113 350 1308 or email [email protected]

Alternatively, complete our contact form here.