Judge says latest safety data can be used in case against GMC over regulation of physician associates

Campaigners who are taking the General Medical Council (GMC) to court alleging failure to properly regulate physician associates (PAs) and anaesthesia associates (AAs) have been cleared to submit new patient safety evidence.

A judge has granted Anaesthetists United’s bid to submit two reports that were published after it began its legal case, and which the GMC had argued were inadmissible, for a judicial review in the High Court on 13 and 14 May.

One report is a systematic review published in The BMJ in March 2025, which found little evidence supporting the safety and efficacy of PAs and AAs in the UK.1

The other is a coroner’s regulation 28 “prevention of future deaths” report published in February 2025, regarding the death in 2024 of Pamela Marking, who was seen by a PA and died after having a nosebleed misdiagnosed. The coroner highlighted a lack of national …