President comments on UK Government pay deal for NHS workers

On 24 July, the UK Government announced its pay deal for NHS workers in England. The highlights are as follows:

• Junior doctors will receive a 2% increase
• SAS doctors will receive a 3% increase
• Consultants will receive a 1.5% increase, plus 0.5% related to clinical excellence awards
• GPs will receive 2% extra, plus potentially a further 1% related to contract negotiations

These increases will come into effect in October 2018 (with the exception of the GP increase) and will not be backdated to April 2018.

Commenting, College President, Professor Derek Bell OBE said:

“The medical workforce faces a number of challenges and we recognise the need for safe and sustainable staffing levels throughout the NHS. We need to ensure that we continue to recruit and retain a world class workforce to deliver the best possible patient care. Patients must be treated in the right place, and as quickly as possible. This requires the right numbers of staff and mix of skills across health and social care. Sub-inflation pay uplifts are unlikely to help achieve this especially when we are competing in a global market.”