Health secretary should prohibit APs from being on doctors' rotas, BMA says

sturti/Getty Images

By Daniel Pye

The British Medical Association has urged the new health secretary to intervene over the “unsafe and dangerous substitution of doctors” by advanced practitioners.

In a letter to James Murray and NHS England chief executive Sir Jim Mackey, the union said doctors had “widespread fears” for patient safety over the use of advanced practitioners on doctors’ rotas.

It pointed to a survey which found more than 40% of NHS hospitals were using advanced practitioners on doctors’ rotas.

More than four in five out of 5,000 doctors told the BMA the way APs currently work is a risk to patient safety in another recent survey highlighted in the letter.

Dr Emma Runswick, BMA council deputy chair called on Murray and Sir Jim Mackey, to issue a prohibition on the use of non-doctors on doctors’ rotas, with this communicated to all hospital and trust senior leaders.

“Our members have been increasingly sharing concerns that senior leaders in NHS hospitals and trusts are using advance practice roles in unsafe ways,” she said.