A GP surgery in Berkshire has been able to improve waiting times for acute mental health appointments, by appointing Physician Associates to relieve the burden on doctors.

The Brookside Surgery in Reading is currently able to provide same-day appointments for patients experiencing poor mental health, cutting waiting times by up to four days and ensuring that GPs have more availability to see other types of patients.

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Dr Amit Sharma, a partner at the Brookside Surgery said: “Having Physician Associates employed in the surgery has been hugely helpful for the whole practice and the benefit has been felt by patients and staff."

Tanya, a Physician Associate, has been working at the Brookside Surgery.

Dr Sharma explained: “Tanya’s capacity to provide urgent appointments for acutely unwell mental health patients has been particularly helpful, as rightly they often need a considerable amount of time which cannot be met by GPs.

"So not only is Tanya helping to ease the caseload for us, she’s also enabling the surgery to provide a better quality of care all round.”

Tanya added: “Working to see mental health patients acutely has been particularly fruitful, as often these patients are in need of the most timely intervention.

"Picking these patients up enables me to start building rapport and to holistically explore the deep-seated issues arising from their presentation.

"In my experience, these patients are very grateful to have been seen on-the-day and continue to come back to me for their interim reviews.

"I feel very grateful to work for such a wonderful practice!”

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The Physician Associates working in the Brookside Surgery are part of a group trained at the University of Reading, which since 2015 has trained more than 50 practitioners to work with GPs and in hospitals.

The Postgraduate Physician Associate programme, which fast-tracks top science graduates into healthcare professions, is designed to help the NHS meet the demands of the UK’s growing population.

Physician Associates (PA) undertake two years of intensive training before they begin working alongside doctors in a wide variety of workplaces (including GP practices, community health services and all types of hospital care) including Brookside GP surgery.

Dr Simone Magee, the Programme Director for Physician Associate training at the University of Reading said: “The NHS is a national treasure, but the exceptional demands that it faces means that doctors are more stretched than ever before.

"This has been particularly evident in primary care due to early retirements and difficulties in recruiting new GPs.

"Through the Physician Associate scheme, we have seen the difference that our graduates are making in the local workforce, benefitting patients and improving access to healthcare quickly and efficiently.

"This is due to the fact that our students are taught in the same model as doctors in training, making them highly flexible and versatile medical practitioners."

In addition, the University of Reading has now developed a new fast-track route for undergraduates with our four-year Masters of Physician Associate Studies (MPAS). Applications for the 2020 postgraduate programme are now open.