Associate Specialist

In the United Kingdom, an associate specialist doctor is one who is appointed to a permanent position in the middle ranks. The rank is the highest that a doctor not seeking to be made a consultant may achieve, and is usually conferred upon staff grade doctors after several years experience (although it is possible to go from specialist registrar to associate specialist if one chooses at that stage to leave the consultant career path).

Rank and Speciality

An "associate specialist" ranks below a consultant and is always nominally accountable to one, but as associate specialists do not count as junior doctors they are able to have their own clinic lists and see patients independently. Associate specialists are normally (but not always) on the specialist register of whichever field of medicine in which they practice, and can be specialists in any field. Promotion from staff grade is normally on experience rather than qualification, although an associate specialist is free to sit any required exams and become a consultant (often without having to have been a specialist registrar first) if they wish.

Difference from Consultants

An associate specialist is normally reached by doctors taking what is known as the "non-consultant career path" which involves becoming (after being a senior house officer) a staff grade and then reaching this rank with seniority. It is however possible for anyone not yet a consultant to leave the consultant career path and take up either this rank or staff grade depending on experience.

An "associate specialist" is a hospital doctor and is generally treated as a senior doctor. Pay is usually lower than that of a consultant (though as associate specialists sometimes have fewer duties they may be also be paid less overall).

The main difference between an associate specialist and a consultant is that an associate specialist is more of a for-hire role, generally called in to look at specific patients, or treat a list of patients with one common specific ailment. Associate specialists can be part time or work across many hospitals far more easily than consultants can, and are often not responsible for the teaching of medical students and junior doctors.

General Practitioners

General practitioners can also be viewed as a type of associate specialist but due to similar training and pay, their autonomy in practice, and level of responsibility are often more comparable to consultants (although the time spent as a Specialty Registrar in training will be shorter than that of a consultant). In the final year of GP specialty training (known as ST3 for GP trainees in the UK), trainees are known as GP Registrars.