The Anaesthesia Associates and Physician Associates Order 2024 - the GCC Response

In February this year, the Department for Health and Social Care carried out a consultation on a proposed legislation to regulate anaesthesia associates and physician associates (AAs and PAs). The stated intention was for this bill to form the template for regulatory reform of all regulated healthcare professions – including chiropractors. As such, the GCC responded to the consultation, and encouraged others to do so too.

On Monday the government published its response to the consultation, before the laying of the statutory instrument before Parliament on Wednesday 13 December. The GCC welcomes these steps and takes many positives from the order and the Government's response:

• We consider the express inclusion of an initial assessment process, supporting our ability to deal with concerns proportionately, as a significant step forward.
• This initial assessment process, combined with the opportunity for a registrant to agree with the findings of an assessment (an ‘accepted outcome’) will be beneficial – reducing the adversarial nature of fitness to practise hearings and speeding up the process for both registrants and witnesses.
• We are pleased to see CPD and periodic assessment (to ensure the highest standards of professional development) now have greater prominence in the legislation and provide for more flexibility as to requirements.
• We welcome the streamlining of removing a practitioner’s registration in certain circumstances - including death or conviction with a serious criminal offence.
• We know that the profession will welcome the potential for us to have increased flexibility around fees – allowing us to look at pro-rata fees, amongst other things, for the first time.

The GCC has been asking for regulatory reform for a long time, and the government has yet to signal when we can expect these changes to apply to the GCC. We understand it is unlikely to be a quick process – the framework for larger regulators such as the GMC, NMC and HCPC will take priority, and there will have to be further consultation with each regulator before new legislation is introduced.

GCC CEO and registrar Nick Jones said,

"I am committed to delivering safe, clear and simple regulation of chiropractors for the benefit of the public and the profession. The regulatory reforms, when they finally come to the GCC, will help us to be more proportionate and more agile in our approach, but in the meantime we will work within our existing legal framework to prevent the greatest harms to patients.

The GCC looks forward to continuing to work with the Department of Health and Social Care, and our other partners, to understand the impact of these changes and ensuring that they fully benefit both patients and chiropractors."