Specialty Doctor is a contract for

doctor Doctor, Doctors, The Doctor or The Doctors may refer to: Titles and occupations * Physician, a medical practitioner * Doctor (title), an academic title for the holder of a doctoral-level degree ** Doctorate ** List of doctoral degrees awarded b ...

s working in

hospital A hospital is a healthcare institution providing patient treatment with specialized Medical Science, health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically ...

s in the UK NHS. The previous grades of Staff Grade and Associate Specialist were subsumed into this new grade when it was introduced in 2008. The Specialty Doctor role requires four years postgraduate experience, two in specialty, although many Specialty Doctors now have more than this. In 2021 a new senior contract for Specialty Doctors to progress to, the "Specialist" was introduced. There are more than 9,000 Specialty Doctors in the UK and you are very likely to be seen by one if admitted to the care of a hospital specialist. Most report to a

consultant A consultant (from "to deliberate") is a professional (also known as ''expert'', ''specialist'', see variations of meaning below) who provides advice or services in an area of specialization (generally to medium or large-size corporations). Cons ...

but have many years of specialty experience and they are employed on a contract similar to that for consultants. Specialty Doctors usually perform more direct

patient care Health care, or healthcare, is the improvement or maintenance of health via the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in people. Health care is delivered ...

than their consultant colleagues as they are not normally involved in

management Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a Government agency, government bodies through business administration, Nonprofit studies, nonprofit management, or the political s ...

, yet may have more experience and skills than some of their colleagues in the training grades.

References

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External links

The SAS Grades - background history - The British Medical Association , Wayback Machine
* http://www.nhsemployers.org/PayAndContracts/MedicalandDentalContracts/StaffAndAssociateSpecialistDrs/Pages/AssociateSpecialists-Homepage.aspx National Health Service Healthcare occupations in the United Kingdom