It's SAS week, so here's to SAS doctors! SAS Week is led by the BMA in partnership with NHS Employers, and I want to use it to celebrate a group of doctors who form a core part of the NHS. Teaching SAS doctors is some of the work I'm proudest of at Doctors Training. I always come away struck by the experience, skill and commitment in the room. Here are three things about being a SAS doctor that I wish more doctors knew: 1. A SAS career is a positive choice There's still a narrative that a CCT is the only real measure of a doctor's worth, but it isn't. More and more doctors are choosing SAS roles because they offer control over their clinical work and room to build careers in education, research and leadership. 2. The expertise of the SAS workforce is enormous A specialty doctor might be three years postgraduate, but a specialist or associate specialist might be thirty. Many international medical graduates worked as autonomous practitioners before they came to the UK. As a consultant, it was only when I worked with SAS doctors across different organisations that I really appreciated the depth of that expertise. When we take the time to understand what colleagues bring, patients get the best of it. 3. There are new routes to recognition The SAS Eligibility and Permanency Framework, published by NHS Employers in June 2026, gives locally employed doctors who have done SAS-level work for two years or more a route off rolling local contracts and onto permanent, national SAS terms. Experience gained overseas counts too, where doctors can evidence equivalent competencies. Alongside the GMC's Portfolio Pathway, which opened up a broader route to specialist registration in 2024, that's real progress in recognising what these doctors bring. To every SAS doctor: thank you. For your expertise, your leadership and the care you give patients every day. Know a SAS doctor who deserves to be celebrated this week? Tag them in the comments and tell them why. I've also shared some of our Why Medics Matter episodes for SAS doctors in the comments. They're well worth a listen, whether you're a SAS doctor yourself, or whether you work with them. #SASWeek26