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

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. )

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.

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 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.

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 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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

Yep.....we are obviously entitled.