Who are we?

I am Stephen Nash, General Secretary of UMAPs, the trade union for Physician Associates (PAs) and Anaesthesia Associates (AAs). Over the last year, we have fought to protect our members from an unprecedented campaign of harassment, discrimination, and wrongful dismissal. Now, we are taking legal action—and we need your help.

Summary

In October 2024, the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) issued an unofficial Scope of Practice guidance document for Physician Associates. This document has no legal standing, yet has led to over 300 PAs facing dismissal, redundancy, or severe restrictions in their roles. This has disproportionately affected women and ethnic minority PAs and has left patients struggling to access care.  

We have now issued the first legal claim, and we are now working to add more claimants, to force the RCGP to withdraw its damaging position statement, and secure compensation for those affected. 

In addition to this RCGP document, the British Medical Association has continuously released dangerous, unsubstantiated rhetoric and unofficial policies and guidance to its members. This has undermined the Physician Associate profession and served as a green light on the assault on PAs in the workforce. It comes as no surprise that this occurred at a time when strike action for Doctor’s pay restoration took place. 

UMAPs is proud to have funded the initial phases of this vital action with a 1:1 matching of donations from crowd funding, and the aggrieved PAs at the heart of this fight have bravely stepped up to contribute financially towards the costs. Now, we call on the wider community to help by standing with us, joining forces to support this collective effort and ensure that their voices are heard. Your contribution will help secure justice for the entire PA community, including those in vulnerable positions. This includes healthcare workers summarily dismissed without redundancy pay, and parents with young children, and your donations will help to cover essential fees associated with this action.  

Call to Action 

We have already raised our first target, and now we are aiming to raise up to £150,000 to: 

• Provide initial legal assessments and guidance whilst internal employment disputes are ongoing, for up to 285 professionals before moving them onto a damages-based agreement with our legal team. 

• Secure £75,000 to fund our barrister to represent lead cases. 

• Cover the shortfall, as UMAPs, a new trade union, stretches its own resources to protect our members. 

This is a defining moment, and we cannot allow discrimination against our profession to be normalised. Please donate today and share this page to protect PAs and the patients they serve. 

What are we trying to achieve? 

PAs are safe, qualified, and competent medical professionals who have worked in the NHS for over 20 years. The RCGP’s guidance, which has no legal basis, has been used to: 

• Deny PAs clinical work that they have performed for years. Some have been reduced to administrative roles, cleaning duties, or even forced to empty clinical waste bins until their notice period expires. 

• Target PAs for redundancy based on misinformation. At least 300 PAs have lost their jobs or had their careers severely restricted, leaving millions of patients without access to care. 

• Deny maternity rights. An unsettling trend is for employers to dismiss PAs while on maternity leave.  

• Threaten PAs with redundancy and referral to the GMC after they have received a diagnosis of Autism because neurodivergence and the RCGP scope meant it was unsafe for them to see patients.

• Force PAs into settlements under duress. Employers have trawled through medical records looking for minor errors to justify trumped-up charges of negligence, pushing PAs into signing settlement agreements that give away their rights to take their employer to court. 

• Isolate PAs who resist. PAs still in work are being subjected to intimidation tactics, including doctors refusing to prescribe necessary medications for their patients, pushing them into unsafe situations, and then blaming them for refusing to work under those unsafe conditions. 

These actions have devastated our workforce. Over 400 PAs have already left primary care, resulting in the loss of over two million patient appointments in a time of record NHS waiting lists. 

What is the next step in the case? 

We have filed multiple cases and are in the process of adding more claimants. Our legal team is working on a damages-based agreement, allowing as many affected PAs as possible to access justice. However, we need £75,000 to secure our barrister to represent our lead cases and help pay for initial assessments for PAs who cannot afford to self-fund the initial fee. 

If we win, we will:
✅ Force the RCGP to withdraw its discriminatory guidance.
✅ Secure compensation for PAs who have lost their jobs, income, and careers.
✅ Set a legal precedent to prevent further professional discrimination against Medical Associates. 

Thank You 

Your support has already empowered us to take the first legal steps. By standing together now, we can end the cycle of discrimination that has targeted our profession. 

This fight is not just about defending one profession. It is about fairness, equity, and the future of multidisciplinary care in the NHS. The Doctors Vote campaign identified PAs as the first profession to attack because they believed we would not stand together, we had no trade union, and our faculty could be easily silenced under their influence. 

We have already proven them wrong.  

👉 Donate now to help us fight back and secure the future of our profession.