Physician Associates Primary Care Internship Programme

The development of Physicians Associates (PAs) in the UK has progressed rapidly over recent years and the role is recognised as having an important part to play in the provision of patient care both now and in the future.

Applications open in Spring

PAs are part of the multi-professional workforce required for the modern NHS both in hospital based specialities and within primary care. Judging from the success of PA posts in primary care elsewhere in the UK it is very likely that PAs will become a very effective part of GP practice/cluster workforce across North Wales in the future.

In order to prepare our workforce for a role in primary care, the Academy recognised the importance of clinical supervision and ongoing learning for newly qualified PAs entering the workforce as a PA for the first time post qualification. Taking advice from the Faculty of Physician Associate (FPA) a 12 month Internship programme was developed.

Primary Care Internship Programme

The Academy offers a 12 month funded Primary Care Internship for newly qualified Physician Associates (PAs) qualifying from Welsh Universities on annual basis.

PAs must have completed their MSc in Physician Associate Studies, have passed both elements of the Physician Associate National Exam and have registered on the Managed Voluntary Physician Associate Register.
PAs are employed by the health board on Agenda for Change Terms and Conditions on a Band 7 salary.
Applications open in the spring prior to Physician Associates sitting their national exams for a November intake.

What is the Primary Care Internship?

The Primary Care Internship is a 12 month placement with a GP practice who are able to support newly a qualified Physician Associate take their first step into working as a qualified PA.

The Academy recognises that as a newly qualified PA, it can be quite daunting so we have designed this internship programme to lay a foundation for their personal and professional practice for years to come

The programme has three distinct elements:

Clinical practice: 80% of their time will be in practice, spent seeing patients, either face-to-face, on home visits and/or via telephone and video consultation.
Continued Professional Development: 10% of their time is protected for continued professional development needs – this can include attending the monthly PA education sessions with other newly qualified and experienced PAs, it can be self directed learning and can include spending time with other practitioners in the practice, community Services or other PAs across the health board
Audit /Research/Quality Improvement: We actively encourage our PAs to undertake an audit or participate in clinical research if the practice is research active or to identify a service or quality improvement project.

Previous cohorts have submitted the findings of their audits to the RCGP and have been able to attend the conference in order to present their posters.

RCGP Posters

The first cohort of Physician Associates in primary care designed and completed an audit looking at patient presentations in primary care and how these align to the PA Core Competencies Matrix. The findings were presented in a poster at the virtual RCGP Conference held on 11-12 February 2021. Congratulations to Heledd, Craig, Beth and Jo, who were awarded the ‘Best Poster in the Service Delivery’ category with their poster titled ‘Increasing the capacity in Primary Care with Physician Associates'.

Continued Professional Development

The health board offers monthly PA specific education sessions, these are usually face to face in one of the three District General Hospitals and all PAs working in the health board and their partners including primary care settings are welcome to attend.

The education programme is varied and we look to the PAs to share with us their ideas on topics and areas of interest. We also expect our PAs to join in to and prepare and present cases on a regular basis.

What is a Physician Associate?

The Faculty of Physician Associates describe the role of the PA here Faculty of Physician Associates - quality health care across the NHS (fparcp.co.uk)

My practice is interested in Physician Associates – where can I find more information about the PA Role?

The FPA has lots of information about PAs on their website Faculty of Physician Associates - quality health care across the NHS (fparcp.co.uk)

My practice would like to host a PA Internship – is this possible or is it just for health board Managed Practices?

Yes it is possible and no it isn’t just for health board Practices. We know what a valuable role a PA can play in the practice and would welcome interest from independent practices and health board practices alike.

If I host a PA Intern – what can I expect from the health board?

Good question!

You will have a named contact in the Academy team who will be the main point of contact
Monthly education sessions for your PA to attend with other PAs to encourage networking, peer to peer learning and some great speaker sessions
Funded attendance for your PA at the RCGP conference subject if they have an abstract accepted for a poster or presentation
The opportunity to employ the PA at the end of the 12 month internship programme

What does the Academy expect from the Hosting Practice?

Really good question…we expect the hosting practice to:

Provide robust clinical supervision for the Physician Associate, recognising that they are a newly qualified practitioner
Offer a one hour weekly tutorial
Ensure the PA is released to attend the monthly education sessions
Engage with the Academy team and provide updates on the PAs progress

Can I host a PA anytime during the year?

No but you can let us know that you are interested. We offer a PA intake on an annual cycle, advertising the vacancies in April and May with the PAs ready to take up the post in the following November after the results of the Physician Associate National Exams are released.

We do need to know by March in any year if your practice is interested in being a hosting practice but you can contact the Academy at any time to register your interest in hosting a PA.

I am a PA who has studied outside of Wales but I am interested in your PA in Primary Care Internship – Can I apply?

Unfortunately, not at the moment through our National Streamlining scheme, it is just for PAs graduating from Welsh Universities. BUT, if we don’t fill all of our Physician Associate vacancies then they will be advertised more widely so please keep an eye on our social media posts.