GP pay award a ‘slap in the face’

Date article online: 14/04/2008

A doctors’ leader has hit out at a below-inflation pay rise for GPs, which he said is a recipe for anger and disappointment.

Dr Kailash Chand, representative on the British Medical Association’s national council for the North-West, said another year of below-inflation pay awards meant effective cuts for many, and dubbed it as totally unacceptable.

Dr Chand explained the new pay rules announced by the government meant first year junior doctors would not be compensated for the loss of their entitlement to free accommodation.

He said hospital doctors would get a disappointing below-inflation pay rise of 2.2 per cent, and the average increase in resources for GP practices is estimated at 0.2 per cent.

Dr Chand said: “This is a complex report which we need to study in depth before commenting in detail, but it is clear that the treatment of junior doctors is completely unacceptable.

“This will further outrage a group that has already suffered enough.

“The loss of free hospital accommodation means doctors graduating from medical school with massive debts will effectively be losing £400 a month - a 20 per cent pay cut.

“The BMA will now be considering the next steps to ensure first year junior doctors are not left out of pocket.”

He added that although GPs were getting an increase of 2.7 per cent on part of their funding, they were getting none in their performance-related pay for quality or for providing existing enhanced services.

He said overall, that meant a 0.2 per cent average increase in payments to GP practices, and said: “After two years of zero awards, this is a further slap in the face.”