CAMPAIGNERS from the Merseyside Pensioners Association protested against the Americanisation of the NHS and the government’s dangerous substitution of doctors with physician assistants today.

Earlier this month, the Royal College of Physicians held an extraordinary general meeting — only the third in the college’s 500-year history — on the role of physician associates (PAs).

Formerly known as physician assistants, they are trained for two years to perform a number of day-to-day tasks in GP surgeries and hospitals.

At the meeting, the RCP presented data from a membership survey on PAs.

The college has been accused of manipulating the results by grouping together “neutral” and “positive” responses and failing to present the full data, resulting in the suggestion that members were overall in favour of Tory plans for the continued introduction of PAs.

Outside the northern headquarters of the Royal College of Physicians, protester Mary Whitby described the introduction of physician associates as a “Trojan horse.”

“They are being scapegoated and used by politicians who are funded by the private health sector to implement policies that benefit big business,” she said.

Ms Whitby pointed out that “incentives from the government are for GP practices and hospitals to employ physician associates instead of employing doctors.

“From the GP practice side of things, if you’re cash-strapped and you’re struggling and the government keeps cutting your wages, you're going to go for the cheaper option instead of employing a doctor who’s more expensive.”

Ms Whitby said their introduction was undermining the safety of patients and was a symptom of the “Americanisation of health.”

Unlike doctors, who study medicine for five years and undertake two years of placements, PAs qualify from a two-year master’s degree.

With the government pushing to recruit 10,000 of them by 2038, they are increasingly being presented in healthcare settings as medical professionals.

Last year, a woman died after she was misdiagnosed after two appointments with a physician associate who she believed was a GP.