NHS junior doctors now known as ‘resident doctors’
On 18th September 2024, the British Medical Association (BMA; the doctors union), announced that junior doctors working across the NHS will now be called resident doctors instead – in a change intended to better reflect their expertise.
They called for this change, as they feel the term ‘junior’ is “infantilising and demeaning”.
‘Resident doctor’ will refer to more than 50,000 qualified doctors working in GP practices and hospitals – some recently out of medical school and others with a decade of experience.
Health ministers say they have accepted the new name as part of a drive to “reset the relationship” between NHS doctors and the government.
Whether this name persists is another issue. Many ‘old terms’ for junior (sorry resident doctors) and registrars are still in use, e.g.
It is also not clear whether it corresponds to all junior doctors in the (about) 10 year training to become a consultant – i.e. is it to be used up to when they are a ST3 (first 5ish years), or that period plus the ST3-8 period (traditionally the ‘registrar phase’; second 5ish years)?
Either way, MyHSN considers it progress that we are moving away from the concept of a ‘junior doctor’.
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