The last time you went to a public hospital, whether to a fracture clinic, the emergency department or to have your baby delivered, you were probably treated by a registrar doctor under the supervision of a consultant.

There is a 20% likelihood that this doctor was an unaccredited registrar.

An unaccredited registrar — also referred to as a non-trainee registrar, service registrar or principal house officer (PHO) — is a doctor who performs all the duties of a registrar but does not have a college training position.

These ‘service registrar’ jobs are unique to and ubiquitous in Australia.