NHS consultants accept deal giving some doctors a £20,000 pay rise – bringing end to strikes

NHS consultants have voted to accept an offer from the government, which will give some doctors a £20,000 pay rise.

The British Medical Association (BMA) said 83 per cent of its members in England voted in favour of the deal, which it described as an improvement on one rejected earlier this year.

The vote means an end to a year-long dispute and any further strike actions from senior doctors. A dispute between the government and junior doctors remains unresolved.

The accepted offer includes a 2.85 per cent, or £3,000, uplift for those who have been consultants between four and seven years, who under the original offer received no additional uplift, the BMA said. The offer is in addition to the six per cent rise confirmed last summer.

Some consultants will receive rises of 19.6 per cent and 17.2 per cent – or around £20,000 – to salaries of £118,884 and £131,964 respectively.

Dr Vishal Sharma, who chairs the BMA consultants committee, said: “The last year has seen consultants take unprecedented strike action in our fight to address our concerns about pay and how the supposedly independent pay review process was operating.

“After years of repeated real-terms pay cuts, caused by government interference and a failure of the pay review process, consultants have spoken and now clearly feel that this offer is enough of a first step to address our concerns to end the current dispute.”

He said the “fight is not yet over, this is only the end of the beginning” and that there will be some way to go before consultants recover the pay cuts experienced over the last 15 years.

The BMA said the offer includes important changes to the profession’s pay review body, the DDRB, which represents “significant progress” in returning the body to its “original purpose and independence”.

It said that from next year, the BMA and other unions will have input into choosing who sits on the DDRB. The government will also not be able to use inflation targets as an argument for pay levels.

The BMA added: “These changes mean that the DDRB can no longer ignore the historical losses that doctors have suffered or the fact that countries abroad are competing for UK doctors with the offer of significantly higher salaries.

“The offer also improves on the previous proposal to reform the consultant pay scale.”

Members of the other doctors union, the Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association (HCSA), also voted – by 83 per cent – to accept the offer.

President Dr Naru Narayanan said: “Our members’ resilience and courage has seen them secure long-overdue improvements to pay.

“This is the best deal available right now and a step firmly in the right direction.

“We will continue to ensure that consultants’ enormous contribution to the NHS is properly recognised. This will include holding the government to account on the implementation of reforms to the pay review body.”

“It is now time for the government to step up and make our junior and SAS doctor colleagues fair pay offers.”

During the course of the last year, with strikes from junior doctors, nurses and other NHS staff, 1.4 million patient appointments were postponed.

Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said: “NHS leaders will breathe a sigh of relief to know that there will be no further damaging industrial action from NHS consultants for the foreseeable future.

“The health service relies heavily on its consultant workforce and these professionals have helped to keep the most life-critical services afloat including over the difficult winter period and the recent junior doctors’ walkouts.

“But the potential for further junior doctor strikes looms large, which could lead to more operations and appointments being cancelled and place more pressure on already stretched services.”

He said the agreement with the consultant committee and government shows “a sensible middle ground can be reached through negotiations”.