Progressing our work as a multiprofessional regulator
Dear colleagues, I hope you’re keeping well as our health services navigate another busy winter. Thank you again for everything you continue to do to support patient care.
I’m writing to share an update since regulation of physician associates (PAs) and anaesthesia associates (AAs) came into effect in December 2024, and to outline our plans for the year ahead to ensure regulation is implemented effectively.
Regulation is a positive step towards providing assurance to patients, employers, and colleagues that PAs and AAs have the skills, knowledge, and behaviours needed to deliver good, safe care.
Progressing PA and AA registration
We’ve now invited all PAs and AAs who were on voluntary registers to apply for GMC registration. Over 100 registrations have been granted and hundreds more applications are progressing through the process. We’re encouraging everyone, including those who weren’t on the voluntary registers, to apply as soon as they’re able. We’d be grateful for your support in reiterating this message to those working across the UK’s health services.
We’ve also started receiving registration queries from PAs and AAs who trained and received their qualifications outside the UK. Our first step will be to assess that their qualification is in line with the training that PAs and AAs receive in the UK and meets the same standards – they’ll need to pay a fee to have their qualifications assessed in this way. If we accept that their qualification meets our required standards, they’ll need to sit and pass a two-part assessment, overseen by us here in the UK, before they’re eligible to apply for registration.
Once registered, PAs and AAs will appear on the public facing registers with a unique registration number prefixed with the letter ‘A’ for associate, distinguishing it from the purely numerical format for registered doctors. Their profession is also listed next to their name. This means that anyone searching can easily tell whether an individual is a doctor, a PA or an AA.
Priorities throughout 2025
As regulated professionals, PAs and AAs need to follow the standards and behaviours set out in Good medical practice. Throughout 2025 and beyond, we’ll stay in regular contact with new registrants to help them understand what is expected of them and to provide information about the support they can expect from us as their regulator.
We’ll also work closely with others across the system to ensure employers understand their role in supporting PAs and AAs, and that educators are well-equipped to guide future professionals. Key areas of focus this year include the ongoing quality assurance of PA and AA pre-qualification education. Over the past few years, we've worked with course providers to assess whether their programmes meet the required standards, and we’ll make recommendations on course approval to our governing Council in April. Additionally, we’ll be developing and later consulting on the rules for how revalidation for PAs and AAs will be delivered. We’ll share updates on our timeline as this work progresses.
In the meantime, we recognise that discussions around the roles and deployment of PAs and AAs are ongoing. We look forward to the outcome of Professor Gillian Leng’s review into the PA and AA professions in England later this spring. We hope it will bring clarity and reassurance to patients, doctors, PAs, and AAs alike.
Beyond PA and AA regulation, we’ll continue to progress a range of other important programmes of work to help us become a more effective, relevant, and compassionate regulator. Our partnership with you is central to these efforts, and we’ll share further details about our priorities in due course to support your own planning.
I hope this update has been helpful. Please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions.
Best wishes,
CHARLIE MASSEY
Chief Executive and Registrar
General Medical Council
Sent to
- Academy of Medical Royal Colleges
- Chief Medical Officers in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales
- Department of Health and Social Care England
- Government officials in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales
- Health Education and Improvement Wales
- NHS Confederation
- NHS Education for Scotland
- NHS Employers
- NHS England
- NHS Providers
- Northern Ireland Medical & Dental Training Agency