12th February 2025

BMA sues GMC over physician assistants
The BMA, the doctors’ union, will take its regulator, the General Medical Council,  to court this week over its decision to call physician associates “medical professionals”. The BMA says patient safety is being put at risk by a blurring of the lines between doctors and PAs.

PAs don’t help GPs
A review of research on PAs by Oxford Professor Trish Greenhalgh states:  ‘There is no evidence that PAs add value in primary care and some evidence suggesting that they do not’.

Don’t know Palantir? then read this…
Palantir supplies Israel with predictive policing software used to harrass and detain Palestinians. NHS England has now handed our health data to Palantir and £330 million of public money despite warnings from data privacy experts. You can opt your health data out here and here’s a campaign toolkit.

111 failed to send an ambulance
A call handler for the out-of-hours service in the Bristol area failed to immediately send for an ambulance. The service is run by private health firm Care UK.

Campaigners call for hospital building now
“There is a serious crisis in acute care and ….. very long waits in A&E.” Keep Our NHS Public Leeds was calling on the government to invest in the NHS.