Improving support for doctors in the UK : the development of a modified physician assistant model in primary care and internal medicine

Abstract

In the United Kingdom, there has been a demand over the last few years to increase the workforce in both primary and secondary care to meet the requirements of the government's ambitious plan for the National Health Service. The NHS plan stated that staffing constraints rather than lack of funding, posed the greatest threat to NHS modernisation. There is a shortage of doctors in the UK. As a result there has been a development of new and extended roles. In this article we wish to describe the development of a new health care worker called the medical care practitioner based on the physician assistant model that is commonly found in the USA.