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Pay boost for medical and dental staff
27 August 2019, 15:21
Medical and dental staff are to be given an inflation busting 2.5% increase in pay, the Scottish Government has announced.
The boost - above the rate of inflation - will be included in next month's salaries, with payments backdated to April 1 to follow "as soon as practical".
Health Secretary Jeane Freeman said the increase will help NHS Scotland "remain an attractive employment option" for those staff.
She said: "It's the continued hard work and dedication of staff which makes our NHS the treasured institution it is and this uplift
demonstrates that we fully value all our staff and the important contribution they make.
"It's crucial we continue to not only recruit and build our future NHS workforce, but also retain expertise."
She added: "This announcement means junior doctors working on typical rotas in Scotland can be up to £6,000 a year better off than their
English equivalents, and our specialty doctors, associate specialist doctors and consultants will remain the best paid in the UK.
"This will help ensure that NHS Scotland remains an attractive employment option for medical and dental staff."
Last month, Chancellor Philip Hammond announced a 2.5% pay increase for hospital doctors and dentists in England, in line with the
recommendation by the independent pay review body for these sectors.
Doctors' organisation BMA Scotland had urged the Scottish Government to award consultants a pay increase in line with this deal, warning
that a lower award would be the "last straw" for the senior doctors and would hit NHS services.
BMA Scotland chairman Lewis Morrison said the announcement is "hopefully a first step" to addressing the impact of "years of real-term
cuts" in doctors' pay.
He said: "The fact that the Scottish Government has listened to the BMA and this year broken with public-sector pay policy and met the
Review Body on Doctors' and Dentists' Remuneration's general pay uplift recommendation of 2.5% for all doctors demonstrates greater and
encouraging recognition of their huge contribution to frontline care."
He criticised ministers for failing to listen to the pay body's call for an additional 1% for some specially-trained doctors.
Mr Morrison added: "We regard a 2.5% uplift as just a reasonable start and certainly not a cause for celebration.
"It is only just higher than the CPI measure of inflation and measured against RPI - which is currently at 2.8% - it remains a real-terms pay
cut."
