England’s National Health Service (NHS), the world’s largest health organisation, plans to partner with leading US health providers and recruit 200 American Physician Assistants (PAs) to work in England on 1 or 2 year placements.
Dr Nick Jenkins, an Emergency Medicine specialist (Attending), has been looking at the role of PAs within the NHS as part of a national training programme to fast-track more clinicians into senior management roles.
Dr Jenkins said: “there are currently growing concerns around levels of demand for healthcare in and out of hospital in England. In response to this I have developed the National Physician Associate Expansion Programme (NPAEP) which aims to expand and develop the PA profession in England – providing an innovative solution to some of our current workforce challenges.”
He added: “If you really want to change things you have to be prepared to, at least temporarily, swap your scrubs for a suit where you can often wield greater influence.
At present, there are just 200 PAs practising in England (where they are known as Physician Associates) compared to around 100,000 in the US.
Dr Jenkins said “American PAs will be a great asset to the NHS, these placements will provide additional expert support to clinical teams and build much needed capacity in the system.We hope American PAs can show the NHS the value of these roles and benefit from their significant experience and professionalism. While in England, US PAs will have the opportunity to work in the world’s most unique health service, assuming they don’t mind the weather!”
NPAEP has now started to hold talks with leading US healthcare providers and is offering them the opportunity to partner with this ground-breaking program.
Dr Jenkins will be visiting the US in January to meet with various healthcare providers interested in allowing a small number of their PAs to take a leave of absence in order to come to the UK and support the development and advancement of the profession.
NPAEP is very keen to hear from any organizations who might be interested in finding out more about this program. We also wish to hear from any individual PAs who might be interested in becoming involved with this ground-breaking opportunity. Our website contains further information (www.npaep.com) and you can contact us at enquiries@npaep.com.
