
There is a war being waged in NHS hospitals. On one side are overstretched junior doctors in understaffed wards. On the other: physician associates (PAs) or, to use the more disparaging term, ‘noctors’.
Since 2003, non-medical graduates have been able to gain entry to hospital wards and GP practices if they complete a two-year clinical course that leaves them a ‘physician associate’ or ‘anaesthesia associate’.

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