This piece by BBC health correspondent Nick Triggle on the replacement of NHS doctors with PAs is disappointingly misleading through omission of key context & reliance on those busy, yet always conveniently anonymous, 'NHS senior sources'. 1/n www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... - ThreadSky

doctoroxford.bsky.social • 92 days ago

This piece by BBC health correspondent Nick Triggle on the replacement of NHS doctors with PAs is disappointingly misleading through omission of key context & reliance on those busy, yet always conveniently anonymous, 'NHS senior sources'. 1/n

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c2dly5ldrxjo

Comments

liberty21.bsky.social•92 days ago

The BBC work for government. Always have.

nhs-consultant.bsky.social•92 days ago

“There is a group of doctors that see PAs and AAs as a threat – we saw the same when nurses took on extra responsibility years ago.”

And more nonsense like that!

spicybee.bsky.social•92 days ago

Lol Triggle isn't to be trusted. BBC has lost its reputation as being trustworthy and unbiased

docrobperry.bsky.social•92 days ago

‘The BMA’s plan would essentially restrict their role to assistants’. That was literally part of the job title before they decided to change it. As for ‘they want us to be subservient’ - emotive language, but yes, because the alternative is to be autonomous, which isn’t an option.

motosunburn.bsky.social•92 days ago

I must say, I read that article with a degree of concern. It sounds like doctors are deliberately sabotaging this scheme to try and make it fail. Which would be hugely unprofessional. Define responsibilities, sure. But work with it.

fluff53.bsky.social•92 days ago

What 💩

johna69.bsky.social•92 days ago

Thought the exact same myself really lazy one sided reporting from the BBC but not surprised

drbenwhite.bsky.social•92 days ago

If there's one thing about BBC Health its their consistent ability to act like a government mouthpiece. Sad really, if we had real health journalists, things might change

drzackh.bsky.social•92 days ago

I also thought it was misleading! The point is about people doing junior doctor work without having junior doctor training.

I'd like to see the PA crisis resolved by offering accelerated routes into medicine, rather than the blurring of responsibilities and skills we have with the status quo.

drkatecushing.bsky.social•92 days ago

Well- no surprise there then- it is Nick Triggle!!

emthinks.bsky.social•92 days ago

I thought this too. Written very much as if PAs were being treated unfairly all because of social media and trivialised the cases where people have died.

sarahhopkins.bsky.social•92 days ago

All the BBC health reporters and editorial team are always shallow on detail and never seem to grasp the essence of issues.

elhopkins.bsky.social•92 days ago

His pieces on COVID were not good.

junesim63.bsky.social•92 days ago

This is Nick Triggle, whose articles throughout the pandemic were constantly misleading. His sister in law is a Tory MP.

stephen500.bsky.social•92 days ago

The doctors did a job on PA'S. My son got out. To me nothing more than protectionism, wrapped up in patient protection tinsel

mirandawhiting.bsky.social•92 days ago

Not the first time he's been disappointing.

ibscholar.bsky.social•92 days ago

To be expected of the BBC as it has become the mouthpiece of the government. Hopefully Channel 4 will report on this too.

itchykoo.bsky.social•92 days ago

They already have, in October. See post above.

itchykoo.bsky.social•92 days ago

All those years on Tw*tter, but after just a few days here, I get a ❤️ from Dr C. I love this place!

doctoroxford.bsky.social•92 days ago

Now two 😊❤️

ibscholar.bsky.social•92 days ago

Thanks

peebee61.bsky.social•92 days ago

One of the major issues of over reliance on using PAs and I would add in ANPs in certain clinical areas, is the pressure it causes for “the supervising” doctor, usually a Registrar or GP in primary care. The public are being short changed.

tanayas.bsky.social•92 days ago

One of the rather lovely plus-points of this site is that I don’t have to view even en passant BBC un-researched opinion…

davidhoward123.bsky.social•92 days ago

Doctors are EDUCATED enabling them to assess the wider context in formulating their diagnosis and treatment plan - which they evaluate and reassess as other issues emerge during the treatment episode.

PAs are TRAINED to perform a narrow role within fixed cognitive and behavioural parameters.

contracynical.bsky.social•92 days ago

Nick Triggle’s grasp of the NHS in the spotlight again.
It’s like watching a Springer Spaniel trying to explain Trigonometry.
He can be relied on to deliver the laziest, least reliable articles.

doctoroxford.bsky.social•92 days ago

The reason for the debate is not, as Triggle claims, 'the speed at which [PAs] are being recruited".

Rather it's the extent to which PAs re replacing doctors in a huge range of roles in the NHS - including assessing cancer patients in clinics & critically ill patients on on-call hospital rotas. 2/n

chriswmanx.bsky.social•92 days ago

This is incredibly worrying

doctoroxford.bsky.social•92 days ago

PAs have even been used to assess children in paediatric surgery clinics - literally deciding whether or not they should be offered an operation, despite them having neither a medical degree nor any post-graduate medical education.
Doctors like me are aghast at the implications for patients. 3/n

debsadelight.bsky.social•92 days ago

I was seen by a PA who gave me wrong advice such that my cardiologist wrote and told her it was detrimental to my health. However I think she was very keen to help me and didn’t want to ask a GP for advice. Was she maybe being asked to do too much?

doctoroxford.bsky.social•92 days ago

We are staggered that NHS England & the GMC no longer regard a medical degree as necessary for the safe assessment & treatment of these patients in multiple different safety-critical settings, despite PAs' radically shorter & more superficial training (a 2 year course, as opposed to 5). 4/n

andytama.bsky.social•92 days ago

The BMA are part of the problem. Not trustworthy anymore.

eseno.bsky.social•92 days ago

Cheap work and devalue NHS. This is what Tories aimed for. Fail NHS to privatise it more and more. They did not care about the patients and NHS staff.

doctoroxford.bsky.social•92 days ago

Yet Triggle insinuates that our concerns are mere trade union politics, citing his anonymous source's comment that royal colleges "were always traditionally above the politics of trade unionism".

I find this both offensive and tiresomely predictable... 5/n

alanmcn1.bsky.social•92 days ago

When I saw it was Triggle I didn’t read it. He lost credibility during the pandemic. He is a daily mail journalist with a BBC job.

topofthefield.bsky.social•92 days ago

Totally!

doctoroxford.bsky.social•92 days ago

The NHS has a long & shoddy history of bullying, smearing & discrediting grassroots voices when they try to speak out about matters of patient safety.

They're doing it now, using obliging journalists as their mouthpiece.

It's infuriating on every level. 6/n

doctoroxford.bsky.social•92 days ago

Here's my recent piece on PAs.

Please read to understand the gravity of the issues involved.

I am speaking out for one reason only - because patients & the quality of their care matter to me more than anything.

[And by all means quote me, Nick.]

Ends/

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/jun/20/physician-doctor-reckless-experiment-nhs-associates

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