BMA warns advanced practitioner deployment risks patient safety

The British Medical Association (BMA) has called for urgent action from Government and NHS leaders after a new survey found widespread concern among doctors over the deployment of advanced practitioners in the NHS.

According to the survey, which was completed by more than 5,000 doctors across the UK, 81% said the way advanced practitioners currently work in the NHS is a risk to patient safety, while 75% said they were occasionally or frequently concerned advanced practitioners were working beyond their competence.

According to the BMA, almost half of NHS trusts and boards in the UK have admitted placing advanced practitioners, including those from nursing, paramedic and pharmacy backgrounds, on doctors’ rotas despite them not being trained as doctors.

The survey also found that 71% of doctors said advanced practitioners in their workplace were occasionally or frequently doing work only doctors should do, while 79% said advanced practitioners were occasionally or frequently considered equivalent to doctors.

In addition, 72% said advanced practitioners occasionally or frequently make independent treatment decisions that should only be made by a doctor.

In response, The BMA has called on the Government and NHS leaderships across all four nations to review advanced practitioner scopes of practice and adopt national standards to prevent the blurring of doctor and non-doctor roles.

It is also calling for the upcoming 10 Year Workforce Plan to address what it described as the “taskification” of medicine, alongside improved statutory regulation of advanced practitioner roles and protection of clinical training opportunities for doctors.

Dr Tom Dolphin, chair of BMA council, said: “This survey should be treated as an early warning light for everyone in UK healthcare. If it was not enough that hospitals are admitting to putting non-doctors on doctors’ rotas, thousands of doctors are now telling us just how unsafe they think this is.