Physician associates say they can help health workforce crisis

Physician associates are accusing doctors and nurses of "ill-informed patch protection" for trying to delay regulation of their profession.

Unions and professional bodies representing doctors, nurses and allied health professionals, along with general practice owners, wrote a joint letter to Health Minister Shane Reti last week, urging him to press pause on plans to regulate physician associates (PAs).

Substituting PAs for doctors or nurses to fill workforce workforce gaps could make patients less safe, they wrote.

But the New Zealand Physician Associate Society said PAs - who have been allowed to practice in New Zealand since 2010 - provided critical support to doctors, helped reduce patient wait times and increased access to healthcare in under-served areas.

President Shelly Collins said there were currently 50 PAs based in 27 clinics nation-wide, working in the same scope of care as their supervising doctors.

"We urge the government to look beyond the vested interests of these professional bodies and consider the evidence and international success of PAs as a valuable part of a comprehensive healthcare solution."

It was important to address both "the inaccuracies presented and the potential underlying concerns these groups may have about shifting roles within the healthcare sector", she said.

"Integrating internationally trained PAs while long-term investments in local training are implemented will help ensure New Zealand's healthcare system remains functional and effective in the short term while building capacity for the future."

The suggestion that PAs should retrain as other healthcare professionals suggested a motive to limit competition and maintain the monopoly of certain professional groups, Collins said.

"It is critical to view these objections for what they are: efforts to maintain existing professional monopolies rather than a genuine attempt to address the healthcare crisis facing New Zealand."

A 2010-15 pilot found no adverse patient outcomes across 30,000 patient visits, she said.

According to the society, Cabinet was expected to vote on a proposal to regulate PAs in December.

Gore Health chief executive Karl Metzler, whose organisation has employed PAs since 2012, said the unions' stance was nothing more than "patch protective nonsense".

"You can't go out crying into your hanky about the workforce crisis and then thumb your nose at a solution."

Gore Health would not have been able to maintain the 24/7 emergency department without PAs, Metzler said, adding he would like to see a local training programme running within three to five years.

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