Two decades after PAs emerged in the NHS, how did the role become embroiled in such controversy?

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By Erin Dean

When the first ‘physician assistants’ entered the NHS workforce just over 20 years ago, few could have predicted the controversy that continues to consume medical discourse today.

In 2002, an advert appeared in the New York Times and online looking for ‘physician assistants’ who would consider moving across the Atlantic to work in the Midlands for the NHS.