GP commissioning consortia: is there a role for physician assistants in routine care?

Abstract

With the publication of the government's health White Paper,1 and the impending handover of commissioning to GPs, the future of family medicine, and indeed the NHS, is at a crossroads. According to the White Paper, every GP will have to join a commissioning consortium by 2011/12; and primary care trusts (PCTs) will be abolished in 2013.1 Commissioning will take up a lot of GP time and doctors, who are already involved in patient care and management of their organisations and business, will have even less time to devote to patient care. The leader of the British Medical Association and the General Practitioners Committee warned GPs earlier in the week of the extent of the task ahead; as the time required for commissioning will be substantial. The warning was accompanied by a gentle nudge towards hiring NHS managers instead of private sector consultants.2 Considering the diverse nature of the work currently undertaken by PCTs — all 152 of them — radical change to the way GPs currently work is essential for the new model to be successful. Paul Charlson, a member of the Doctors for Reform steering committee and himself a GP, has warned of the …