resident doctor

English

Pronunciation

Noun

resident doctor (plural resident doctors)

  1. (UK) A qualified, practicing doctor who has completed graduate medical education and is undergoing postgraduate training.
    Synonym: junior doctor (former nomenclature)
    Hypernyms: resident < physician, doctor < person
    I was attended to by a resident doctor.
    • 2025 December 12, Tobi Thomas, Denis Campbell, “NHS bracing for worst ever winter crisis in next fortnight amid rising flu cases”, in The Guardian[3]:
      The NHS is bracing itself for its worst ever winter crisis descending in the next fortnight because of a worsening “flu-nami” that has left hospitals, GP surgeries and ambulances services under intense strain. Hospitals are already treating record numbers of people left seriously ill by flu for the time of year. But things would get worse in the days ahead, NHS leaders said, as medical chiefs urged people to get vaccinated against the virus so they could enjoy Christmas gatherings more safely. Keir Starmer and Wes Streeting have launched a coordinated assault on the British Medical Association for its “irresponsible” decision to call thousands of resident doctors in England out on strike next week. The prime minister and health secretary urged the doctors – formerly known as junior doctors – to endorse the government’s latest offer to settle the long-running pay and jobs dispute and thus avoid the NHS having to grapple with a five-day walkout due to start on 17 December that has caused huge alarm in the service. Sir Jim Mackey, the chief executive of NHS England, has already described the walkout as “cruel”, “calculated” and designed to “cause mayhem”, giving its timing. It may yet be called off, but only if enough resident doctors see an improved offer from Streeting on Wednesday as enough of a reason to do so.
  2. (informal) Any resident physician (medical resident) in any country.
    Synonym: resident
    Hypernyms: physician, doctor < person; see also Thesaurus:physician

Usage notes

Due to misusage of the term,[1] the British Medical Association, the UK's body for medical professionals, voted in 2023 to deprecate the term "junior doctor" in favour of "resident doctor".[2]

References

  1. ^ Dugan, Emily (21 December 2023), “Health secretary accused of deliberate slight over ‘doctors in training’ remark”, in The Guardian[1]
  2. ^ McNally, Scarlett (16 July 2024), “Scarlett McNally: Introducing the term “resident doctor” to replace “junior doctor””, in BMJ[2], volume 386, →DOI, page q1549