Junior doctors are to be called resident doctors, after a vote at the British Medical Association (BMA) annual representative meeting in Belfast.

A majority of the BMA’s representative body voted in favour of amending association byelaws to reflect replacement to the ‘junior’ title, long criticised by doctors as misleading to patients and demeaning to doctors.

The change, which required a two-thirds majority among RB members, comes a year on from a motion at the 2023 ARM initiating a call to make a change.

That motion urged the BMA to discontinue the use of the terms ‘junior doctor’ in all forms of communication.

The term ‘resident’ was chosen after an extensive period of consultation by the UK BMA junior doctors committee.

Following these changes, all references to junior doctors within association policies and communications will be changed to ‘resident’ as from September.

The BMA said they will be engaging with stakeholders in the NHS and beyond to encourage the adoption of the term ‘resident doctors’ and it is hoped that it will go into standard use.