The name they deserve
The term resident doctors will apply to all doctors from foundation year 1 to those who obtain the certificate of completion of training
Sometimes it is the smallest of changes which can make the biggest difference.
After many years of discourse and deliberation, the popularly demanded and democratically endorsed call to dispense with the term ‘junior doctor’ has, at last, been realised.
As of 18 September, this misleading and in many ways demeaning term has officially been replaced with ‘resident doctor’, a title which will now be used by the BMA in all its communications, and which the association will be encouraging the health service and public to adopt.
The cynical or casual observer might dismiss the decision to revise a long-standing title applied to tens of thousands of hard-working and highly skilled doctors, perhaps invoking a Shakespearean perspective of ‘what’s in a name?’
This attitude, however, ignores the strong conviction held by those doctors who, in recent years, put themselves in harm’s way to save lives during a pandemic and who have fought tirelessly for fairness and restoration of pay and respectful working conditions.
A 2022 investigation and report produced by consultant orthopaedic surgeon Scarlett McNally found more than three-quarters of the doctors she surveyed considered the term ‘junior’ as inappropriate, with around half feeling similarly about the title of ‘trainee’.
This groundswell in disaffection led to a motion at the BMA’s 2023 annual representative meeting, in which members overwhelmingly backed a call to adopt the name of resident doctor, formally.
On that day, Sai Ram Pillarisetti, who delivered the case for renaming, emphasised the thoughts and feelings of thousands of doctors throughout the UK when he explained there was nothing junior about the responsibilities placed on doctors like him.
‘Every day these so-called junior doctors act as the first point of contact for sick and unwell patients on the ward,’ he told the conference.
‘They’re in theatre operating on your loved ones, and they’re leading teams across various specialties in our health service.’
Going forward, the resident doctor title will apply to all medical professionals from foundation year 1 onwards through to achieving the certificate of completion of training, with the historic renaming just part of wider change.
