PAs can see undifferentiated patients but under strict criteria – draft protocol

eggeeggjiew/Getty Images

By Daniel Pye & Sarah Lowden

Physician assistants can see undifferentiated patients under defined criteria but should not be responsible for final diagnoses, according to a new draft protocol.

The document, produced by Professor Gillian Leng, states that PAs can see undifferentiated patients as long as they are working within a consultant-led multidisciplinary team where patients are discussed with a clinical supervisor who can formulate a diagnosis and review the patient if needed.

It states that PAs should not hold sole responsibility for making a final diagnosis.

Leng, who is the president of the Royal Society of Medicine, has defined an undifferentiated patient as “a patient with new signs and symptoms who has not yet had an initial clinical assessment”. 

The document, currently under consultation, sets out a framework for physician assistants (PAs), their supervisors and employers to work within, and has been produced for use in England following the recommendations of Leng’s government-commissioned review into PA safety and scope last year.