Registered medical practitioner

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Registered medical practitioner is a legal designation, indicating that a medical practitioner is legally registered (or licenced) to practice as a medical doctor (Both medical practitioner and medical doctor redirect to the article on physician, which discusses terminology in more detail). In the United Kingdom, registration is carried out by the General Medical Council; there are similar bodies in all Commonwealth countries. "Doctor" is also widely used to honour people with any doctorate, for example a Ph.D., so does not on its own indicate that someone is qualified to practise medicine. Indeed, many registered medical practitioners do not hold a doctoral qualification, so have "doctor" only as an honorary title.