The union which represents medical associates is seeking a High Court order to stop NHS England from pushing through changes to the job roles of Physician Associates (PAs) and Anaesthesia Associates (AAs).
United Medical Associate Professionals (UMAPs) is looking to prevent the health service from implementing the recommendations of the Leng Review, pending the outcome of its judicial review against Health Secretary Wes Streeting and NHS England.
A hearing for the injunction has been set for Friday 15 August at the Royal Courts of Justice. UMAPs is represented by Sneha Nainwal of Shakespeare Martineau and Patrick Green KC of Henderson Chambers, who previously represented subpostmasters in the Horizon IT scandal.
UMAPs claims implementing the changes before the judicial review has concluded would pit GP surgeries and hospital trusts against their employees and will expose employers to tribunal claims. The union further cites the negative impact that the chaotic implementation of the Leng Review has had on medical associates’ mental health.
Directly after accepting the recommendations of the Leng Review, NHS England asked employers to immediately implement the changes to medical associates’ roles, which include changing PAs names to ‘physician assistants’ and barring them from treating undiagnosed patients.
UMAPs lawyers wrote to NHS England on Thursday 31 July and successfully induced the health service to stop rolling out changes to the Network Contract DES specification, which could have resulted in approximately 1,900 PAs being unfairly dismissed from primary care roles.
However, the NHS recently declined UMAPs’ request to not send out any further instructions on implementing the Leng Review. The health service also refused to issue clarification to employers, asking them to hold off immediate implementation of the Leng Review recommendations until after the judicial review had been heard.
On Monday UMAPs issued its judicial review claim following pre-action letters to the health secretary and NHS England. It accuses both parties of acting irresponsibly by not consulting it as the recognised trade union for medical associate professionals. The union also criticises the government for failing to assess how the overhaul of PAs’ and AAs’ work would affect patients’ access to care.
UMAPs says these changes were the result of government bowing to pressure from the British Medical Association at a time when resident doctors were threatening industrial action.
Commenting on the upcoming legal action, UMAPs General Secretary Stephen Nash said:
“The NHS is trying to push through the Leng Review recommendations in an incredibly underhand and chaotic way. This is opening up employers to employment tribunal claims and making life hell for medical associates.
A snap survey of our members found that 95% feel the Leng Review has negatively affected their mental health, with over a quarter reporting that they have felt they would be ‘better off dead’ since the review was published. These appalling statistics are no doubt impacted by NHS England’s attempts to push through reforms without proper consultation or waiting for the judicial review process to be concluded.
The Leng Review found no hard evidence that Physician Associates are unsafe and yet NHS England is rapidly forcing through changes that will make it impossible for us to carry out the role we were trained to do.
In hospitals and GP surgeries where Leng recommendations are being implemented, over half of survey respondents said these health facilities are now struggling to treat patients, severely limiting access to care and wreaking havoc on NHS waiting lists.
We are standing up for the rights of all PAs and AAs by no longer allowing our profession to be bullied by the medical establishment. The harm inflicted on medical associates, patients, and employers has gone on long enough.
We will also continue to support employers – many of whom have refused to implement the Leng recommendations and have financially supported our legal claims – by ensuring that highly trained medical associates continue to play a meaningful and effective role in the health service.”
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About UMAPs
United Medical Associate Professionals Trade Union (UMAPs TU) was founded in December 2024 to represent medical associate professionals and students, providing advocacy, legal support, and professional development advice to MAPs at every stage in their careers.
