UKRDC represents the views of resident doctors across the UK to the government, royal colleges and educational bodies.
Our priorities
Pay restoration for resident doctors in England
Read the latest on our campaign for pay restoration.
COVID-19
We continue to focus efforts on ensuring the rights, training and wellbeing of junior doctors are protected throughout the response to the pandemic. We are also working with the wider association on working conditions, safety at work and other key issues facing our profession during these difficult times.
Focus on flexibility
A key demand for resident doctors is greater flexibility in their working lives. The RDC has been working with the GMC, national education bodies and other stakeholders to improve flexibility for all trainees, both those training less than full time (LTFT) and full time.
This work has focused on projects such as transferring competencies between specialties, the GMC flexibility review, the HEE led ARCP review, Gold Guide reviews, the Category 3 LTFT Pilots and the Supported Return to Training programme so far. Moving forward this continues to be a key priority for the RDC, with projects on a range on flexibility initiatives.
Our LTFT training forum has been formed to focus on the issues relating to less than full time training and contractual implications for LTFT trainees.
Medical education reform
Since early 2018, HEE has been working to change the way that medical education and training takes place in England, with a wide variety of different priorities and objectives. While some, such as the review of the ARCP process in England and Enhancing Resident Doctors Working Lives, have the needs of trainees at their core, the RDC scrutinises outputs from these reviews to ensure that they deliver the necessary improvements for doctors in training.
The RDC was involved throughout the Foundation Programme Review, and successfully pushing back against changes that would disadvantage junior doctors at the earliest stages of their careers whilst advocating for increased flexibility, non clinical time, career development and the recently published Foundation Doctor Charter. The RDC will continue to engage with these proposals and ensure their introduction for all foundation doctors.
Regional rep training
RDC has committed to improving the training given to regional and local representatives. We accredit and train our union reps locally to make them confident to be the go-to people when it comes to improving issues in the workplace.
Resident doctors contracts
Resident doctors in England voted in favour of accepting negotiated contract improvements to the 2016 terms and conditions of service (TCS) for doctors and dentists in training. These improvements were negotiated as part of the 2018 review of the 2016 TCS, undertaken between the BMA, NHS Employers, and the Department of Health and Social Care.
RDC also continues to ensure that the 2002 terms and conditions of service work for the trainees who remain on this contract.
Protecting resident doctors from contract breaches
In 2019 a legal test case on behalf of RDC secured a binding precedent in England and Wales regarding how monitoring of rotas for those resident doctors on the 2002 contract should be done. You can find out more about this case and what support the BMA can offer you if you have been affected.
The future workforce
The makeup of the NHS workforce is changing. RDC will continue to advocate for appropriate regulation of the Medical Associate Professions and Advanced Clinical Practitioners and seek to ensure the protection of our training time and standards.
We are also urging employers to ensure parity of pay and training for hundreds of anaesthetists told they do not have a job within the NHS training scheme from August.
Our people
Co-chairs: Ross Nieuwoudt and Melissa Ryan.
Deputy chairs:
Chris Morris and Fia Muratib, deputy co-chairs of the UKRDC with the education and training portfolio.
Madjda Bougherira and Taha Khan, deputy co-chairs of the UKRDC with the professional issues portfolio.
U Bhalraam and Keith Farrell-Dillon, deputy co-chairs of the UKRDC with the terms and conditions of service and negotiating portfolio.
The RDC executive subcommittee is made up of:
- the chair of the RDC
- the three deputy chairs of the RDC
- four RDC members elected to the education and training subcommittee
- four RDC members elected to the terms and conditions of service and negotiating subcommittee.
With the addition of the following non-voting seats:
- the chairs of the Scottish RDC, Welsh RDC, Northern Ireland RDC and the chair of one of the English regional RDCs
- the resident doctors' conference chair
- the chair(s) of the medical students committee
- the chair(s) of the trainees committee of the general practitioners committee
- the chair(s) of the trainees subcommittee of the public health medicine committee
- one representative of the consultants committee
- one representative of the staff and associate specialists committee
- one doctor in flexible training elected by the resident doctors conference.
Take part in one of our free courses designed to give you the right skills to:
- break down equality and inclusion bias (CPD-accredited)
- value difference and inclusivity
- live our BMA behaviour principles.
Associated committees
Our meetings
RDC meets four times a year to discuss the issues that are most important to doctors in training. These meetings are open to RDC members only, but you can attend as a visitor as part of the committee visitors scheme.
Meeting dates:
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Saturday 28 September 2024
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Wednesday 11 December 2024
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Tuesday 4 March 2025
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Friday 6 June 2025
RDC executive meetings
Meeting dates:
- Friday 8 and Saturday 9 November 2024
- Wednesday 29 January 2025
- Friday 11 April 2025
- Thursday 14 August 2025
For more information, email [email protected]
Conferences
2025
The 2025 resident doctors conference was a 2-day event held on Friday 25 - Saturday 26 April.
2024
The resident doctors conference 2024 was a 2-day event held on Friday 26 - Saturday 27 April.
2023
The resident doctors conference 2023 was a 2-day event held on Friday 28 – Saturday 29 April 2023.
2022
The resident doctors conference was held on Saturday 7 May 2022.
Trainee doctor LNC representatives conference
This one-day virtual event for representatives in all four nations is geared towards updating you on key issues including the ongoing pay campaign and priority work areas.
2021
The 2021 resident doctors conference was held on Saturday 8 May 2021.
Junior members forum
The JMF (junior member forum) is a weekend-long BMA conference dedicated to giving junior members the chance to be heard on the issues that matter most to you.
How to join
There are many advantages to becoming involved in our committees. You can actively influence BMA policy-making and negotiations, represent your colleagues' voices and develop your leadership skills.
Each committee has a few routes to becoming an elected member. In the case of UKRDC, these are:
- Seats/term - every year, elections for the 13 RRDCs in England are held for their executive committee for a one-session term. Roles include, but are not limited to: chair, deputy chair, secretary, communications officer and equalities officer. Of the elected, 42 will automatically get a seat on UKRDC.
- Timeline - these elections are run by regional staff after the August rotation, results are usually known in late August.
- Eligibility - all resident doctors* who are BMA members are eligible to stand and vote in this election exclusively in the region where they live or work.
- Seats/term - every year, elections on UKRDC from the resident doctor committees in the devolved nations take place for the following seats:
- NIRDC - 2 seats
- SRDC - 4 members
- WRDC - 2 seats.
- Timeline - these elections are run by staff in the devolved nations at their first meetings of the session, usually held in September.
- Eligibility - all resident doctor* voting members of NIRDC, SRDC or WRDC are eligible to stand and vote in this election.
- Seats/term - every year, elections for 8 seats on UKRDC take place for a one-session term.
- Timeline - the nomination period opens a month before ARM and voting closes a few days after ARM.
- Eligibility - all UK resident doctors* who are BMA members can stand for election but only ARM delegates can vote.
- Seats/term - every four years, those five members who are elected to BMA UK council via the resident doctor branch of practice seats will gain a non-voting seat on UKRDC.
*For all four routes, a resident doctor is defined as:
Doctors holding an appointment in a recognised training grade or who are within four calendar years of holding such an appointment and able to declare their intention of fulfilling such an appointment again. Any period of statutory leave is excluded when determining four calendar years.
The election section below is kept up to date with details about any running elections, so make sure you keep checking it throughout the year.
Please check the election sections of your regional or national RDCs for details about any running elections:
Elections
Elections to RDC are closed.
Get in touch
If you are interested in finding out more about the work of the RDC, email [email protected].
The BMA’s network of elected women (NEW) is a BMA-wide group which supports elected women members.
The BMA is working to meet the challenges that women face in the medical profession.
Stand for a BMA committee and be part of this change.
As of 18 September, all references to junior doctors in BMA communications have been changed to ‘resident doctors’.
Making up nearly 25% of all doctors in the UK, this cohort will now have a title that better reflects their huge range of skills and responsibilities.
Find out more about why junior doctors are now known as 'resident doctors'.