Blood pressure gauge and daily medication Photo: Stevepb / Pixabay / Befunky.com
The Health Minister's latest move to improve on the delivery of healthcare is a consultation over workforce regulation.
"Putting Patients First" says it is looking to streamline access and right size the rules around rules and qualifications.
The consultation document says currently there has been no incentive for regulators to identify new professions.
But while consultation was still underway, one health role that operates in the US, Canada and the UK - Physician Associate - is now to become a regulated profession here as well. But what do physician associates actually do and will a new regulated profession help with staff shortages or leave some patients seeing less qualified providers?
Kathryn speaks to Lisa deWolf, New Zealand Physician Associate Society (NZPAS) Regulation Chair and a long time physician associate herself and Ben Gray an Associate Professor at Otago University in primary healthcare and a former GP.
