14th May 2024

Non-surgeon removed a gall bladder
The Royal College of Surgeons has expressed alarm that a non-surgeon has removed patients’ gall bladders at Walsall Manor Hospital. A research paper shows that 175 surgeries were carried out by a Surgical Care Practioner at the hospital during a four-year period.

Cost cutting in the NHS
A cost-cutting project is replacing paediatricians with medically unqualified “associates”. A secondary care doctor has been suspended for inadequately supervising a physician assistant.

PAs and GP employment crisis
The government has failed on a manifesto pledge to deliver 6,000 new GPs  by 2024, but has allocated £1.4 billion to fund other roles in primary care like physician associates. The replacement of qualified doctors with PAs has resulted in locum GPs unable to find work.

NHS funding lags behind election pledge
In 2019 the Conservatives pledged to increase spending by £34 billion a year by the end of the parliament. The Institute for Fiscal Studies said increases in funding from the government had been eaten up by higher than expected inflation.