Acceptable overseas qualification for PAs

  1. Summary
  2. Acceptable overseas qualification for PAs
  3. How we assess if your qualification meets our criteria
  4. What information do I need to provide on my qualification assessment?
  5. What happens after I submit my qualification assessment?
  1. What happens after you have paid your qualification assessment fee
  2. What happens if my qualification assessment is accepted?
  3. What happens if my qualification assessment is not approved?
  4. I am ready to have my qualification assessed

For us to accept your PA qualification, we must be satisfied that it meets the criteria set out in our policy on assessing overseas qualifications for physician associate registration.

The criteria are also set out below.

You will need to provide evidence to demonstrate that the programme of study leading to your qualification meet these criteria. We will also need objective evidence from the awarding institution.

PA acceptable overseas qualification (AOQ) criteria

Criterion 1

Your qualification must permit you to practise as a Physician Associate, Physician Assistant, or other comparable title in the country where the qualification was awarded.

Criterion 2

Your qualification must have been awarded in a country where the profession is regulated by law and must have been accepted for registration as a PA (or other comparable title) in that country, OR your qualification must have been accepted to hold registration as a PA in another country where the profession is regulated by law.

Criterion 2 is disapplied for PA qualifications from the Republic of Ireland, to account for the unique political factors and long-standing agreements that exist between the United Kingdom and Ireland, including the Common Travel Agreement and the Belfast Agreement (the Good Friday Agreement). This criterion is also disapplied for applicants with qualifications obtained from EFTA countries and Switzerland due to the specific legislative requirements that apply.

Criterion 3

Your qualification must have been awarded from an institution which is accredited by a recognised organisation in the country where it was awarded. For example, a regulatory body, Ministry of Health or Education or other appropriate government body.

Criterion 4

Your qualification, and education and training must be based in scientific, evidence-based medicine and must include knowledge of biomedical science.

Criterion 5

Your programme of study that led to your qualification should have taken a minimum of two academic years to complete.

Criterion 6

Your programme of study should have contained approximately 3,150 hours of time in education and training.

Criterion 7

If you have studied at more than one institution and the study contributed to the award of your PA qualification, it must be clear that:

  • the institution is part of a recognised twinning programme or a recognised campus of another institution, or
  • it was not possible to complete your qualification at one institution for justifiable reasons, and
  • the course credits that contributed to the award of your qualification must not have included credits transferred from another institution where you failed or were excluded (or where you left to avoid exclusion).

Criterion 8

Your programme of study must have involved in-person clinical experience which was overseen and approved by the institution you attended. As a minimum this should have comprised of:

  • 1,400 hours OR
  • 40% of the total course hours.

Criterion 9

The in-person clinical experience completed as part of your qualification must have included experience in each of the following areas:

  • General practice
  • Acute and emergency medicine
  • General medical specialties
  • Paediatrics
  • Surgery
  • Gynaecology
  • Mental health.
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