Of course, it gets a little complicated if a PhD (or similar) is held by a GP and/or a Surgeon – but this does not alter the fact that a ‘GP’ is technically not a ‘Doctor’. A ‘Doctor of Philosophy’ (PhD) is not a ‘Medical Doctor’ qualification but is rather an academic rank (of which there are many versions such as in ‘Law’, ‘Literature’ and ‘Music’, etc). In theory, a ‘PhD’ (or similar) could well involve advanced medical research, but even so, the holder of this distinction would still be an ‘Academic Doctor’ who has diversified and specialised in a medical subject – pushing the theoretical boundaries of knowledge further back – whilst adding new and original thinking to existing understanding!
