- Melissa Ryan, specialty trainee1,
- Becky Lavelle, specialty trainee2
- 1Nottingham, UK
- 2Yorkshire, UK
- ryame269{at}hotmail.com
We agree with Esmail and Everington that there is a severe shortage of doctors in the UK,1 but the creation of physician associates and medical apprenticeships to fill these gaps is shortsighted and unsafe.
Physician associates undertake a two year postgraduate course of 1600 hours of clinical instruction, compared with a minimum of 5500 hours for a primary medical qualification.23 …