The Faculty of Physician Associates (FPA) is delighted with the news that Sarah Vigor has been appointed as physician associate representative on the Society for Acute Medicine (SAM) Council.

Sarah is an acute medicine physician associate at Surrey and Sussex Hospital (SASH). She graduated from St George’s University in 2010 before working as a PA in Trauma and Orthopaedics at St George’s Hospital for two and a half years. Sarah spent a period of time on the UK Association of PAs (UKAPA) Board of Directors and as Secretary of the Physician Associate Managed Voluntary Register, and has been working in Acute Medicine at SASH since 2013.

“I am delighted to have been elected as PA Representative for the SAM Council. The PA profession is growing fast and our training lends itself well to this specialty. It is fantastic that SAM is supporting PAs by enabling our voice to be heard through council representation. I hope my contribution will help the PA role to be well understood and to evolve within the acute medicine MDT, and I look forward to our first meeting in September.”

The post of physician associate representative to the SAM Council has five key aspects to the role, which are:

• Multi professional working
• Professionalism
• Ambassadorship
• Expertise
• Communication

The FPA is fully supportive of SAM’s promotion of multi professional working and encouragement of positive working relationships between medical, nursing and allied health professionals.

As physician associate representative, Sarah will be proactively generating interest in physician associates within the SAM to raise the profile of the profession within acute medicine. As well as this, her role will be to encourage physician associate audits and research to represent the physician associate agenda.

Sarah’s responsibilities will also include organising a physician associate programme for the twice yearly SAM Conferences, promoting links between other professional bodies and feedback to SAM council from other PA bodies, conference and seminars, for the mutual benefit of physician associates in acute medicine, and the specialty as a whole.

About the Society of Acute Medicine

The Society for Acute Medicine (SAM) is a multi-professional organisation which works closely with the Royal Colleges and a range of healthcare organisations to support the awareness and development of acute medicine here in the UK and overseas.

SAM has seen increasing numbers of physician associate colleagues coming to work in acute medical teams, and they felt that physician associates should be represented on the society’s Council.

The FPA welcomes this approach and congratulates Sarah Vigor on her appointment as the SAM Council’s representative.