Donya Mighty

The Treasury Committee is reviewing whether the student loan system is fair and wants to hear from doctors and medical students. But you only have a short window to tell them what it’s actually like. Doctors are often hit harder by student loans due to longer training and delayed earnings. When responding to the survey, you may want to mention... • the cost of longer medical training • interest and repayments early in your career • the combined impact of loans and tax • how debt affects morale, retention and progression The survey closes Tuesday 14 April. Have your say👉shorturl.at/24oMg

@kcisc @DrLKVaughan Where was this from please?

@DrLKVaughan Jean Watkins plan for PAs...

Discussing the 'skill escalator' concept with Martin McKee (late of this parish). Mentioned in the 10YP. This suggests that anyone entering the NHS workforce can 'progress' through different roles/grades, limited only by their 'potential'. It has been touted as a partial 1/

@LittlePersonDoc @aktmla97497 @ba22219107 @medicalmodelbri @Jean_Jeannie1 @Anisocyte @Mary_Tom11 @DrJoFranklin @parthaskar @Adam_Skeen This tbh sounds quite reasonable. I’ve always said my second year GEM exams (3rd year UG) were the most similar to the PANE.

@aktmla97497 @ba22219107 @itsdoctormighty @medicalmodelbri @Jean_Jeannie1 @Anisocyte @Mary_Tom11 @DrJoFranklin @parthaskar @Adam_Skeen PAs undertook a study which was submitted to Leng. It revealed that PAs had a similar level of knowledge to 3rd year medical students when tested on topics mapped to the PA framework only.

PA studies final exam revision question practice Robust Intense Medical model

@LittlePersonDoc @medicalmodelbri @Jean_Jeannie1 @Anisocyte @Mary_Tom11 @DrJoFranklin @parthaskar @Adam_Skeen You’re right. That was the problem with having a voluntary managed register due to the profession being unregulated for so long. And I would seriously worry about an employer that hired a PA that hadn’t passed the PANE.

@itsdoctormighty @medicalmodelbri @Jean_Jeannie1 @Anisocyte @Mary_Tom11 @DrJoFranklin @parthaskar @Adam_Skeen So no overall assessment to ensure knowledge has been retained beyond each module? And for some then they can go ahead and work in a GP Practice without also passing PANE. What a mess.

@LittlePersonDoc @medicalmodelbri @Jean_Jeannie1 @Anisocyte @Mary_Tom11 @DrJoFranklin @parthaskar @Adam_Skeen Yes. There would be other exams/assessments at the end of units but depending on how the course is structured it may be that there is no exam right at the end of the course.

@itsdoctormighty @medicalmodelbri @Jean_Jeannie1 @Anisocyte @Mary_Tom11 @DrJoFranklin @parthaskar @Adam_Skeen Sorry, I may have misunderstood, are there potentially PA courses with no final exam assessment at the course?

@Anisocyte @Jean_Jeannie1 @Mary_Tom11 @medicalmodelbri @DrJoFranklin @parthaskar RCP host the question writing group, which is essentially a voluntary commitment, so presumably they had low turnout and reduced the threshold to attract more people to the group. I believe the group is also open to doctors who have worked with PAs.

@Jean_Jeannie1 @Mary_Tom11 @medicalmodelbri @DrJoFranklin @parthaskar Yup. I found my old thread on it. Basically FPA played a blinder in using RCP branding for a dud exam, and trying to pretend it was like MRCP. GMC likely tried to continue this by contracting PARA to RCP but it’s all falling apart 1/

@medicalmodelbri @Jean_Jeannie1 @Anisocyte @Mary_Tom11 @DrJoFranklin @parthaskar @Adam_Skeen Depends on the individual university and some don’t have an exam at the end of 2nd year afaik unless things have changed since GMC accredited the courses

@Jean_Jeannie1 @Anisocyte @Mary_Tom11 @DrJoFranklin @parthaskar I’ve heard the uni exam is harder than the PARA/PANE correct me if I’m wrong @Adam_Skeen @itsdoctormighty

Accepting applications until this Friday 25th July. Please share… free mentorship and support network for PAs applying to medicine ✨

@iDrSunny @ItsnotrightUK Yes it’s my full name

@ItsnotrightUK @itsdoctormighty Donya you got LinkedIn ?

Pls RT: If you are a PA or PA student wanting to apply to medicine, feel free to leave your details here to be added to an online mentorship group ran by myself and other PAs who have gone on to study medicine: forms.gle/VS9HBP4NZmsKS7… pls share among networks

@iDrSunny Totally free, based on voluntary time contribution from myself and other PAs turned medics as we all wish to support our former colleagues in applying to medical school

@itsdoctormighty Is this a private venture or how is it structured? I want to support this but not if it’s exploiting PAs

@TCL3000 Can you get universal credit if you have a mortgage? Also I wouldn’t consider it ‘lucky’ you don’t get gifted a mortgage you have to work hard to save enough for the deposit in the first place!

@itsdoctormighty Funding for graduates is terrible, but why should a single parent lucky enough to have a mortgage get a "golden ticket"? All medical students should get the LSF £5k and the NHS bursary years should be better funded for all. She can get universal credit and hardship funding.

Today I had a conversation with a PA who would love to be able to study medicine. But they are single parent and have a mortgage. Current funding arrangements make it *impossible* for someone in this situation to retrain and become a doctor. This is not ok.

@AnneKSlater @2manypeople4me @Cray_tweets1 @Megsenmumdr I can’t give one size fits all opinion because there was no standardisation between courses.

@itsdoctormighty @2manypeople4me @Cray_tweets1 @Megsenmumdr Now that you're a Resident Doctor, What's your opinion of the PA course?

@DrJoFranklin @2manypeople4me @Cray_tweets1 @Megsenmumdr Sounds like what I was told was mild in comparison then.

@itsdoctormighty @2manypeople4me @Cray_tweets1 @Megsenmumdr Why then did Nash brief HoL that PAs enter workforce at level of ST1-3, ready to hit ground running, & conts to state this nonsense publicly? None of this adds up. No PA other than himself is responsible for what Nash says or does, but never seen anyone question or correct him.

@Megsenmumdr @Cray_tweets1 @jewett6a @2manypeople4me @ollieburtonmed Yeah so reading more about it, it looks like the curriculum was developed jointly with and approved by the GMC informally (as they weren’t regulator at the time) but that doesn’t necessarily mean individual courses have been assessed by GMC as meeting standards…

@itsdoctormighty @Cray_tweets1 @jewett6a @2manypeople4me @ollieburtonmed All PA course Donya? They did say something about approving all at point of regulation even if they were sub standard & then work with Unis to standardise them 🙄 GMC haven’t really helped reassure anyone with their blasé attitude

@2manypeople4me @jewett6a @ollieburtonmed @Cray_tweets1 @Megsenmumdr Yeah I do recall the university being annoyed about the level of contact time and someone higher up coming and telling us we should be grateful and not complain about course disorganisation because other masters courses have 12 hours contact time per week 🤷🏽‍♀️

@itsdoctormighty @jewett6a @ollieburtonmed @Cray_tweets1 @Megsenmumdr They mugged you off then, as the Masters only requires 120credits and 1600 clinical hours! 😂 Or you got better value for your money, depending on how you look at it. Again, just shows the variation between courses

@Cray_tweets1 @jewett6a @2manypeople4me @ollieburtonmed @Megsenmumdr No it’s true, the quality of courses has been variable. PA degrees running from Sept 2023 are now accredited by GMC.

@itsdoctormighty @jewett6a @2manypeople4me @ollieburtonmed @Megsenmumdr It’s not just about the time though. We can’t really make any assumptions about the standard or quality because it wasn’t accredited or regulated, unlike GEM/UG medicine (and tbh I’d expect almost most professional degrees you can think of).

@2manypeople4me @jewett6a @ollieburtonmed @Cray_tweets1 @Megsenmumdr My PA course was literally 9-5 48 weeks a year for 2 years. Maths on that makes it 3840 hours total (including the 1600 clinical placement hours).

@itsdoctormighty @jewett6a @ollieburtonmed @Cray_tweets1 @Megsenmumdr The PA course requires 120 credits, I think, so 1200 hrs over 2yrs. Not sure how much of this is directly taught v SDL? That gives a total of 2800 hours over the 2yrs, about 35wks a year 9-5 equivalent, though probably spread out a bit!

@Cray_tweets1 @2manypeople4me @ollieburtonmed @Megsenmumdr Yes I understand, my point was talking about the years doesn’t tell the full story as medical degrees even vary between 4-6 years.

@itsdoctormighty @2manypeople4me @ollieburtonmed @Megsenmumdr My understanding is that nothing is cut from an UG medical degree for GEM… they just literally have no holidays. It’s like a full time job. The course is regulated, accredited and deemed equivalent to an UG medical degree by the GMC. The same cannot be said for the PA course.

@Cray_tweets1 @2manypeople4me @Megsenmumdr No it was stated verbally

@itsdoctormighty @2manypeople4me @Megsenmumdr What??!!! Do you have this in writing??