The trade union for doctors has warned that a pay rise for medics in Scotland is a ‘superficial’ improvement that could be wiped out by inflation.

Responding to the Scottish government’s 3% pay rise announcement, BMA Scotland chair Dr Lewis Morrison says that the Scottish government has failed to grasp the opportunity to make a significant difference to doctors’ working lives.

“This year’s pay award does virtually nothing to address low morale in the profession and the recruitment and retention crisis we are in," he said.

Dr Morrison, who works as a consultant geriatrician in East Lothian, said the raise does not go far enough to reverse years of erosion in doctors’ pay.

Inflation was running at 2.9% in April, when the pay rise is backdated to, and currently stands at 3.9%.

In a blog on the government’s decision published today, Dr Morrison said: “Inflation (unless it starts falling soon and stays there) can of course wipe out most or more of any pay rise.

“It also comes against a backdrop of a 4% award for most other NHS staff backdated to last December which announced with some pre-election fanfare by Scottish government.

“We asked for a substantially above inflation pay award.”

This pay uplift applies to all NHS medical and dental staff, General Medical Practitioners, and General Dental Practitioners, who were not covered by the Agenda for Change pay deal back in May.

Health Secretary Humza Yousaf says the pay award reflects the “immense value” placed on the hard work and dedication of medical and dental staff, especially during covid-19.

He says: “This announcement means that our senior medical staff will continue to be the best paid in the UK.

“It will help to ensure that NHS Scotland remains an attractive employment option”

But Dr Morrison said: “To sum up, for doctors’ pay in Scotland it’s another year of “must do better” even if the direction of travel is a marginally more positive.

"But I’d go much further than that. If Scottish government aren’t willing to do better on pay then they are going to have to do far better on so many other things: pension taxation, controlling demand, recruitment and retention and putting in place work conditions that promote a sustainable and career that doesn’t have a negative impact on our own health and wellbeing.

"They need an actual plan to improve these things, not the usual “Plan for a plan” – if they do these things then everyone’s experience of healthcare will improve – doctors and patients alike. They say they have listened. It’s time to start doing."

These sentiments were echoed by the Scottish Dental Practice Committee, who say the Scottish government's announcement has left key questions unanswered.

The Chair, David McColl, said:  “This uplift will do little to correct a decade of austerity, and not all of this increase may actually reach dentists, who rely on their earnings to invest in their practices."

The 3% pay rise is in line with the recommendations laid out by the UK government’s review on doctors’ and dentists’ remuneration (DDRB), published last month.

 

Read the full blog here.

Read more: Nurses escalate battle over pay and recruitment; NHS Scotland medics face £10k gender pay gap; NHS pay rise described as ‘disappointing’

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