SCOTLAND
Yousaf: We will offer junior doctors ‘biggest ever pay uplift’ to avoid strikes
Rebecca McCurdy and Craig Paton, PA Scotland Political Staff
Mon, 3 July 2023
Junior doctors in Scotland will be offered the “biggest ever pay uplift” in an effort to avert strikes later this month, the First Minister has said.
It comes as the Scottish Government confirmed senior NHS staff will be given a 6% pay increase following negotiations with the Doctors and Dentists Pay Review Body.
The uplift is being hailed by Humza Yousaf as the biggest since devolution as he promised an offer for junior staff that could amount to “thousands of pounds”.
The British Medical Association (BMA) announced junior doctors would walk out between July 12 and 15 after rejecting a 14.5% increase over two years.
The offer was initially described as the “best and final” deal from the Scottish Government, but as he marked the 75th anniversary of the NHS during a visit to Forth Valley Hospital in Larbert, near Falkirk, the First Minister said he planned to meet with the BMA on Tuesday to discuss a new offer.
He said: “I’m prepared to offer junior doctors the biggest ever uplift seen in the history of devolution, and if accepted, it would put thousands of pounds into the pockets of our junior doctors and they will be worth every single penny.”
Mr Yousaf said the plans would only be discussed with junior doctors but said methods could include going above and beyond a one-year pay rise, or reforming contracts and working conditions.
He added: “There isn’t, I’m afraid, money down the back of the sofa, I think people know that given the difficult financial constraints that the Government is operating under.”
First Minister Humza Yousaf meets patient Paul MacIntosh during a visit to NHS Forth Valley Royal Hospital in Larbert (Lesley Martin/PA)
It comes after Mr Yousaf chaired a resilience meeting with senior ministers and health bosses to plan contingencies in the event of the expected strikes.
Mr Yousaf told journalists the walkouts could be “hugely significant”, resulting in “potentially tens of thousands of patients being affected and having their procedures cancelled”.
And asked by the PA news agency if he was confident that junior doctors would accept an improved offer, he said: “I think it’s 50/50 if I’m being honest.
“I don’t think it’s a done deal by any stretch of the imagination. I think it’s going to be a challenging negotiation given where we know the BMA are and what we’re able to afford.
“But I do believe the BMA, absolutely, when they say they want to do everything they can to avoid industrial action.”
Following the resilience meeting, Dr Chris Smith, chair of the BMA’s Scottish junior doctors committee, said: “Junior doctors in Scotland have consistently and strongly made clear that the pay offers made so far by the Scottish Government are not yet sufficient to demonstrate a commitment to reverse the years of pay erosion we have suffered, which has seen pay reduced by 28.5% since 2008.
“No-one can seriously argue a junior doctor today is worth that much less than a counterpart 15 years ago. Indeed, our members rejected the Scottish Government’s latest offer decisively.
“Unless we act now and invest in the future of the workforce, we will go on losing doctors to places they are valued properly, compromising the care we can provide to the people of Scotland now and in the future.”
Humza Yousaf speaks to staff during his visit to NHS Forth Valley Royal Hospital (Lesley Martin/PA)
Scottish Conservative health spokesperson Dr Sandesh Gulhane said: “Scotland’s health service is already at breaking point due to years of SNP mismanagement, so patients will be alarmed at the thought of these damaging strikes going ahead.
“Humza Yousaf must do everything in his power to halt them by reaching a deal with shattered junior doctors – who are paying for the SNP’s dire workforce. It must address not just pay, but the poor working conditions junior doctors face every day.”
The pay deal for senior NHS staff, which will be backdated to April 1 2023, will see a consultant at the bottom of the pay scale see a rise of £5,488 and £7,292 for those at the top.
It builds on the 4.5% pay uplift awarded in 2022, taking the total increase to 10.5% in two years.
Yousaf: We will offer junior doctors ‘biggest ever pay uplift’ to avoid strikes
Rebecca McCurdy and Craig Paton, PA Scotland Political Staff
Mon, 3 July 2023
Junior doctors in Scotland will be offered the “biggest ever pay uplift” in an effort to avert strikes later this month, the First Minister has said.
It comes as the Scottish Government confirmed senior NHS staff will be given a 6% pay increase following negotiations with the Doctors and Dentists Pay Review Body.
The uplift is being hailed by Humza Yousaf as the biggest since devolution as he promised an offer for junior staff that could amount to “thousands of pounds”.
The British Medical Association (BMA) announced junior doctors would walk out between July 12 and 15 after rejecting a 14.5% increase over two years.
The offer was initially described as the “best and final” deal from the Scottish Government, but as he marked the 75th anniversary of the NHS during a visit to Forth Valley Hospital in Larbert, near Falkirk, the First Minister said he planned to meet with the BMA on Tuesday to discuss a new offer.
He said: “I’m prepared to offer junior doctors the biggest ever uplift seen in the history of devolution, and if accepted, it would put thousands of pounds into the pockets of our junior doctors and they will be worth every single penny.”
Mr Yousaf said the plans would only be discussed with junior doctors but said methods could include going above and beyond a one-year pay rise, or reforming contracts and working conditions.
He added: “There isn’t, I’m afraid, money down the back of the sofa, I think people know that given the difficult financial constraints that the Government is operating under.”
First Minister Humza Yousaf meets patient Paul MacIntosh during a visit to NHS Forth Valley Royal Hospital in Larbert (Lesley Martin/PA)
It comes after Mr Yousaf chaired a resilience meeting with senior ministers and health bosses to plan contingencies in the event of the expected strikes.
Mr Yousaf told journalists the walkouts could be “hugely significant”, resulting in “potentially tens of thousands of patients being affected and having their procedures cancelled”.
And asked by the PA news agency if he was confident that junior doctors would accept an improved offer, he said: “I think it’s 50/50 if I’m being honest.
“I don’t think it’s a done deal by any stretch of the imagination. I think it’s going to be a challenging negotiation given where we know the BMA are and what we’re able to afford.
“But I do believe the BMA, absolutely, when they say they want to do everything they can to avoid industrial action.”
Following the resilience meeting, Dr Chris Smith, chair of the BMA’s Scottish junior doctors committee, said: “Junior doctors in Scotland have consistently and strongly made clear that the pay offers made so far by the Scottish Government are not yet sufficient to demonstrate a commitment to reverse the years of pay erosion we have suffered, which has seen pay reduced by 28.5% since 2008.
“No-one can seriously argue a junior doctor today is worth that much less than a counterpart 15 years ago. Indeed, our members rejected the Scottish Government’s latest offer decisively.
“Unless we act now and invest in the future of the workforce, we will go on losing doctors to places they are valued properly, compromising the care we can provide to the people of Scotland now and in the future.”
Humza Yousaf speaks to staff during his visit to NHS Forth Valley Royal Hospital (Lesley Martin/PA)
Scottish Conservative health spokesperson Dr Sandesh Gulhane said: “Scotland’s health service is already at breaking point due to years of SNP mismanagement, so patients will be alarmed at the thought of these damaging strikes going ahead.
“Humza Yousaf must do everything in his power to halt them by reaching a deal with shattered junior doctors – who are paying for the SNP’s dire workforce. It must address not just pay, but the poor working conditions junior doctors face every day.”
The pay deal for senior NHS staff, which will be backdated to April 1 2023, will see a consultant at the bottom of the pay scale see a rise of £5,488 and £7,292 for those at the top.
It builds on the 4.5% pay uplift awarded in 2022, taking the total increase to 10.5% in two years.
Steve Barclay says he is willing to offer bigger pay rise to doctors in England
Tom Ambrose
Sun, 2 July 2023
Doctors in England could be offered a bigger pay rise after the health secretary admitted there needed to be “movement on both sides” in the long-running dispute, but refused to restart talks while strikes were planned.
Steve Barclay said that although he considered demands of a 35% salary increase to be unreasonable, a larger rise would be offered if negotiations were to resume.
“I don’t think a 35% pay demand, which they refuse to move away from, is reasonable given the headwinds we face from inflation,” he told the Times, adding: “I think there needs to be movement on both sides.”
Junior doctors in England want a 35% pay rise to make up for what they estimate to be a 26% cut in their real-terms’ income since 2008-09, plus inflation.
They have staged two stoppages so far in pursuit of their goal of “full pay restoration”, forcing hospitals to postpone several hundred thousand outpatient appointments and operations.
But latest polling shows about two-thirds of the public support striking nurses, ambulance workers and junior doctors, despite growing numbers of appointments and operations having to be cancelled.
The figures have roughly held steady since the beginning of the year, though they dipped slightly in March after doctors, ambulance workers and nurses all held strikes.
Healthcare workers are striking in an effort to reverse the deep cuts to their salaries that have resulted from a decade of pay rises that have not kept up with inflation.
Doctors, nurses and some other healthcare professionals have voted against the government’s offer of 5% plus a non-consolidated payment.
Junior doctors, who can have up to eight years of experience as a hospital doctor or three years in general practice, voted this month to strike from 7am on 13 July until 7am on 18 July, the longest such strike in NHS history.
On Tuesday it was announced that senior doctors had voted to join them for the first time in this pay dispute, with the first two-day strike for consultants in more than 50 years scheduled from 20 July.
Meanwhile, the NHS England chief executive, Amanda Pritchard, told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme: “The hard truth is it is patients that are paying the price for the fact all sides have not managed to reach a resolution.
“There has been a significant amount of disruption and that is only going to get more significant as we hit the next round of strikes.”
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