4 in 10 Britons support hiring more Physician Associates to support GPs – but six in ten don’t know what they do
New Ipsos polling in collaboration with the Press Association highlights the lack of knowledge among the British public regarding Physician Associates (PAs).
New polling by Ipsos, in collaboration with the Press Association, examines attitudes towards Physician Associates, and whether they should be utilised to reduce NHS waiting times.
The poll finds low levels of awareness among the British public about the role of Physician Associates. Two in five say they have never heard of them (38%), with an additional 19% saying they have heard of them but know nothing about their role.
Three quarters (77%) of Britons say that it is important to know the role of the healthcare professional they are speaking to at their GP practice. However, only around half say they are confident that they knew the role of the healthcare professional they saw or spoke to in the last year at least most of the time. Despite this, around two-thirds say they are confident that the healthcare professional they spoke to in the last year has had the qualifications they needed to deal with their condition (27% very confident, 37% fairly confident).
In spite of the lack of awareness around Physician Associates, there is openness to utilising them to reduce waiting times. Four in ten (40%) say that the NHS should recruit and train more PAs to support GPs, even if that means they are less likely to speak to a GP.
Elsewhere in the poll, people were asked to rate the availability of NHS services more broadly as either good or poor. Over half (55%) say that the availability of prescriptions is good. However, there are high levels of dissatisfaction with the availability of GP appointments, with only two in ten (20%) saying that availability for non-urgent conditions is good (rising to 26% for urgent conditions). In addition, only 29% say that the accessibility of NHS services in general is good.
Commenting on the findings, Anna Quigley, UK Research Director, Health and Social Care at Ipsos, said:
Our new polling highlights the lack of knowledge among the British public regarding Physician Associates, with many being unaware of their role or even their existence. Despite this, there is some willingness to use them to alleviate the strain on the NHS. The current dissatisfaction with GP access may mean that some people are open to alternative solutions, even if it means they may not always have direct access to a GP. However, the polling also shows the importance the public place on knowing the role of the healthcare professional they are seeing, and this is at odds with their current understanding of the Physician Associate role.
Technical Note
Ipsos interviewed a representative sample of 1,127 adults aged 16-75 across Great Britain. Polling was conducted online between 12-15 July 2024. Data are weighted to match the profile of the population. All polls are subject to a wide range of potential sources of error.
