Evaluation Partner for the Physician Associate Ambassador Programme

Summary Evaluation Scope - Benefits Realisation and Primary Project Aims

Health Education England (HEE) requires an evaluation partner to evaluate the impact of Physician Associate Ambassadors on local, regional and national workforce initiatives. It is anticipated that there will be some retrospective analysis of the work undertaken and the impact of the Midlands and East pilot during 2018 and a prospective analysis of the program of 2019/2020

The evaluation will take a phased, integrative approach and will demonstrate engagement from the commencement of the pilot with key stakeholders including HEE, workforce providers (Acute Trusts and Primary Care, Higher Education Institutions (HEI)). The evaluation will enable the identification of primary and secondary benefits, innovative practice and capture of the (anticipated) wide variation in local activities of the Ambassadors. The evaluation team will assist the project team in ensuring educational governance and quality. The project aims to create a sustainable vision for a supportive and leadership role by physician associates for the development of a physician associate workforce

A key requirement of the evaluation will be collaboration and engagement from the outset between the evaluation team and key groups involved in project delivery. This should include engaging with experts who understand the operational complexities and have a clear understanding of the physician associate role. There will be an operational project steering group comprising key stakeholders.

Indicators and outcomes may include:

• Any impact on attrition from training and retention to specialty,
• Any opportunity to enhance wellbeing for physician associates in training or in new roles.
• Any increase in ICS / STP support for and introduction of new PA roles
• Identification of leadership development of the PA ambassadors and their ability to engage with workforce strategy groups
• Access to clinical placements for PA Course Providers
• Working with service providers to develop adequate supervision and mentoring for newly qualified PAs.

(Benefits realisation and aims are expanded upon below)

Project aims include the development of a model role descriptor and implementation guide, which may support a sustained change within UK workforce. However, it is first necessary to rigorously test and report upon the ability of PA Ambassador roles to achieve the required change. Outputs from the evaluation will include peer-reviewed and public-facing publications, briefings for policy makers, trainees, trainers and executive boards.