A question for Doctors

A question for the docs,

As you may be aware, a few universities have started to release a new course for physician associates in this country. How will this affect GPs ?

As a GP partner I think at the moment it is too early to tell. They aren't prevalent enough at the moment for most GPs like me to understand the difference between them and nurse practitioners.
Our senior partner is retiring soon and we're worried about getting someone to replace her with the huge shortage of GPs in Scotland at the moment. A new GP partner/partners is still our first choice though as studies have shown that the breadth of knowledge and experience of GPs means they consult quicker and more confidently, plus how can you diagnose lichen planus if you've never heard of it?
If we can't find a GP we may look at delegating more to our practice nurses or employing a practice pharmacist (we have health board provided pharmacy time 1 day a week but he mainly does health board initiated tasks) to see if cutting down our admin doing repeat med reviews etc would free up more consulting time.
Many GPs are wary of the halfway house option of NPs and physician associates.
That may change a lot in the next few years though. NPs are already becoming much more common.

It is very difficult/ impossible these days for a group of GPs to set up a GP surgery and then try and get NHS contracts. This is how things worked when the NHS started in the 50s which is why there were originally so many single handed practices in urban areas. These days the only completely new health centres built in my area were financed by the health board with the GPs as employees of the health board (and they have a rapid turn over of GPs as many GPs realise after a while that they'd be more satisfied as partners having more control). Most GPs wanting to be GP partners/ self employed have to join an existing practice. Existing practices can expand but usually make a reduced profit whilst they are expand because their staff costs go up rapidly whilst their income from patients only goes up slowly.