Question reference: S6W-24549
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
- Date lodged: 22 January 2024
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Current status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 1 February 2024
Question
To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it has provided to train physician associates and anaesthesia associates in each of the last five financial years.
Answer
Employment of Anaesthesia Associates (AAs) and Physician Associates (PAs) is the responsibility of individual NHS Scotland Boards who receive funding from the Scottish Government. In the case of AAs, it is open to Boards to employ and support these individuals for the duration of their training as a way of building clinical capacity. There have been no nationally funded programmes to grow the AA and PA workforce over the last five financial years.
We will work with NHS Education for Scotland and continue to review the merits associated with a subsidised educational offer for trainee AAs and PAs in Scotland, building on models adopted elsewhere in the UK, as we progress with an evidence-based approach to the expansion of Medical Associate Profession roles across NHS Scotland.