The British Medical Association (BMA) General Practitioners Committee for the UK (GPC UK) has voted in favour of stopping hiring physician associates (PAs) in general practice, and for existing roles to be phased out.

Their view was made clear at a meeting of GPC UK on 17 October, where an overwhelming majority of members voted in favour of “believing that the role of physician associates in general practice is fundamentally unsafe.”

The motion comes as the Royal College of General Practitioners recently changed its position on PAs, voting to oppose a role for them in general practice.

The BMA said it believes that those in existing PA roles should be given opportunities to retrain into more suitable ancillary NHS roles.