Partha Kar: The debacle over physician assistants must finally come to an end

The unrest over physician assistants continues to drag on, more than a year after Gillian Leng’s independent review was published. On 17 July 2026 the High Court dismissed a legal challenge to the Leng review’s recommendations brought by the physician assistants’ trade union, United Medical Associate Professionals. Importantly, the judge dismissed the unfounded claim that Leng had produced the review to appease certain quarters of the medical profession, including the BMA.The handling of the controversy around physician assistants has been damaging to the health system—including the royal colleges, the General Medical Council (GMC), and NHS England. Many concerns about physician assistants raised by frontline staff were dismissed by leaders as “social media noise.” Doctors were accused of elitism and being protective of their role. Delayed and soft touch regulation of physician assistants by the GMC added to the problems around undefined scope of practice and patient safety risks.The former health...