Should we know the qualifications of the person who is treating us?

Yep.....we are obviously entitled.

Yes, and there should be more supervision of recently quaalified young doctors. I am still trying to unravel the results of a young recently qualified doctor recruited to a vascular research project diagnosing me as having had minor strokes. Despite every other doctor who saw me saying they were not strokes. I have one officially classified as a mis-diagnosis, but only because I paid to see a specialist who rediagnosed and then treated the real problem.

yes life's too precious to allow unquallified people take over.

pably15 I don't think the either Physician Associates or the newly qualified Doctor under discussion could be described as "unqualified". Under qualified perhaps in the case of the PA and inexperienced in the case of the doctor.

Our surgery does tells us whether we will be seeing a nurse or a physician associate .

There’s an article in the news today, a young woman died as a result of seeing a PA who she thought was a fully qualified doctor.
He gave her a diagnosis of anxiety.

Any employed NHS Health Care professional regardless of profession will be qualified with a minimum BSc with professional exams, they cannot be employed otherwise. Most, more senior staff have other qualifications pertinent to their professional standards (Band 6+) then Masters my chum in the department I worked in has just got her PhD.
I was a Band 8 clinical Manager with all my extra professional exams plus Masters.
After all that hard work we too don't want folks sneeking on the back door, claiming they can do X.Y & Z .
My Doctor friends have worked very hard to get all there exams most Consultants now have to get a PhD to secure a post.
Newly qualified Doctors are under supervision all the time, especially by other professionals. I personally have never agreed with P A's, the ones I have encountered have been cocky.

I was diagnosed with high blood pressure by a PA and had to go back to the Drs to discuss medication but this could only be with a PA.

Luckily I checked into the staff listed on the health centre website and could see that one of the Assistants was a pharmacist graduate. He was so helpful and knew in depth the pros and cons of each medication. He also had time to discuss what would be best for my particular set of problems.

This is the best use of PAs.

I think the Nurse Practitioner at the doctor's surgery should always say who she is. I once saw one who was very nice and professional and I was led to believe she was a doctor. I was dissapointed to find out I saw a nurse with extra training. I felt like I'd been conned!

I am now going to make myself always ask the name of anyone I see or speak to and their title and write it down in a notebook with the date. Getting them to confirm the spellimg if not easy to understand for any reason eg. quiet voice or fast speaker. It's so easy not to and then not have any idea of who it was.
I didn't do this last week and am annoyed with myself. I think she was a PA and it was a face to face and she was efficient, but it was a straightforward appt. However she should have said and I should have asked.
I am going to apply this to NHS staff and all other organisations.

HelterSkelter1

I am now going to make myself always ask the name of anyone I see or speak to and their title and write it down in a notebook with the date. Getting them to confirm the spellimg if not easy to understand for any reason eg. quiet voice or fast speaker. It's so easy not to and then not have any idea of who it was.
I didn't do this last week and am annoyed with myself. I think she was a PA and it was a face to face and she was efficient, but it was a straightforward appt. However she should have said and I should have asked.
I am going to apply this to NHS staff and all other organisations.

Yep....they should indeed say. What would it take to spend 30 seconds at the start saying "Hello Mrs X - I'm Jane Smith and I'm a (nurse practitioner/etc/etc)" as applicable.

Make that 50 seconds if you're in a part of the country where they address women as either "Miss" or "Mrs" and you have to correct them and say "Actually it's Ms - that's common where I'm from and that's what I am"....but it really doesn't take long still for them to introduce themselves properly.

I often see the nurse practitioner who has been at our GP practice for many years and knows the patients over and above a new Physician Associate, if I cannot get in with my own GP

If the nurse is unsure she will ring my GP during the appointment.

Last year I saw a GP about an unexplained lump who was convinced I had colorectal cancer even before any tests. I was put on the two week fast track referral system but she managed to somehow cock that up and I wasn’t given a scan for a month. When I contacted the surgery I was told she had left!!
When the scan was inconclusive I badgered for another GP appointment and finally got one with a doctor who admitted he didn’t have a clue what the lump was so googled it while I was there, mispronouncing medical terms that I was already familiar with and his subsequent report was inaccurate and badly written.
This morning, after the recent publicity about PAs, I checked the staff list on the Group’s website.

He’s the Clinical Director!!
😮😮☹️😂

I went with DH last month to an appointment with the nurse practitioner. DH was suffering with a distressing amount of phlegm. She typed things into her computer which was clearly prompting her to do take certain steps, eg listen to his chest and take his temperature etc. She prescribed him a decongestant nasal spray which was of no help to him.
Fortunately 2 weeks later he had a hospital check up and was diagnosed with a digestive problem. The prescribed tablets solved have solved the problem. She tried hard to help but, in this instance, she simply didn’t have the right experience.

I have never heard of physician associates. Maybe we don’t have them in Australia, I don’t know. I can’t imagine our doctors accepting anything like that.

(Just looked it up - apparently they trialled them but they are not generally used here, a lot of opposition from doctors. )

GrannyGravy13

I often see the nurse practitioner who has been at our GP practice for many years and knows the patients over and above a new Physician Associate, if I cannot get in with my own GP

If the nurse is unsure she will ring my GP during the appointment.

I too often see a nurse practitioner just for blood tests, results and sometimes to get referred e.g. for an x-Ray.
During one lot of blood tests I asked her what she had had to do to be an NP.
Her answer, which I don’t totally recall, left me quite happy to see her for those purposes.

I think we really have to be in the ball now. My mother was a nurse and I have been brought up to think doctors are gods and you do not question them.

I now know that is very much not the case and they should be questioned. Politely of course as I dont want to be removed from the practice.
The same applies to hospital staff. I was a few months back diagnosed with a particular bowel condition. ON THE PHONE!! Weeks before the endoscopy was actually performed. The letter I received after the telephone call was so ambiguous it made my GP think the procedure had been performed and this was the resulting diagnosis. He almost didnt believe me that nothing had actually been done.....I almost didnt believe it myself.

I had to really stick to my guns.

I have just returned from a doctors appointment where I saw a young woman who introduced herself as a physician assistant.
She was thorough and helpful and I have a blood test and on a wait list for an appointment with the nursing staff at the practice.
I heard on the radio today programme this morning that PA s should not see patients who have yet to be diagnosed, ie me I suppose but that hasn’t yet been implemented.

I've never heard of a Physician Associate so I just googled it.

According to the NHS website, Physician Associates support Doctors.

I've never made a "physician's appointment" nor gone to the surgery "to see a physician" or even told anyone what the "physician" said. I have however made a Doctor's appointment, seen a Doctor and told people what the Doctor said.

Bit of an out of the box idea here on my part - but how about calling them "Doctor's Assistants"?

I was expecting to see a doctor too, and mostly people assume who they see are doctors, but maybe we shoukd ask. This mornings she told me at the start she is a PA.

I would be appalled if I thought that I had seen a Qualified Doctor when in fact the individual was a nurse with extra training.
No offence to the Practice Nurses who are skilled and kind and invaluable but they are there to take blood samples and I think that I've had specially trained nurses do ovarian cancer "scrapes" and even gall bladder ultrasounds. The two latter send results to be reviewed by experts who I presume are doctors.
If I have an undiagnosed medical problem worrying me I want to see a trained doctor.

Yes, we should be told about who the person actually is, and yes, for certain procedures, happy to go with a nurse or other qualified practitioner.

Hmmm, Physician Associates? Sounds too much like a glorified game of 'Doctors & Nurses', and we only get one stab at life so no thanks.

Old-fashioned fully qualified medics if you please.

Physicians Associates are not trained nurses, they are post grads who do a post graduate year or maybe two of medical training.