Health minister says that highest-paid doctors in NI will earn more than those in England after his pay rise
The health minister Mike Nesbitt has said that with his 3.5% pay rise in place top-level consultants in Northern Ireland will be earning slightly more than their counterparts in England.
He also questioned the idea that significant numbers of doctors are being lost to higher-paid posts in the Republic of Ireland.
He was reacting to complaints from the British Medical Association (BMA) about pay for doctors in Northern Ireland as compared to elsewhere in the British Isles – complaints which are fuelling strike action this month.
Two sets of doctors were on strike from 7am yesterday to 7am today: consultants, and SAS doctors (which stands for specialist, associate specialist and specialty doctors).
It is the first time either group of doctors have gone on strike over pay in Northern Ireland.
Resident doctors (the new name for junior doctors) are to follow suit on Monday/Tuesday.
Mr Nesbitt is pressing ahead with awarding doctors in Northern Ireland a 3.5% pay rise, though the BMA (which accepted 4% last year) has said that this is not enough.
It argues that pay has declined in real terms over the past 18 years, and lags behind GB and Ireland.
But Mr Nesbitt, speaking on Radio Ulster, said that after a 3.5% pay lift, the highest-paid consultants in Northern Ireland will actually earn slightly more than those in England.
“I am told that top of the range pay consultant in England gets £150,569 per annum, and that is including this year's 3.5% pay rise,” he said.
“If and when I deliver the 3.5% for [BMA spokesman] Dr Farrell and his colleagues, now they'll be on £150,610 – so actually £41 more than he would be getting in England.
“That's what I'm being told by my officials and I have to trust their word.”
According to pay bands supplied by the BMA, this is how consultant pay breaks down across the UK:
N Ireland: starts at £110, 681, rises to £145,517
England: starts at £113,565, rises to £150,570
Scotland: starts at £111,430, rises to £148,064
Wales: starts at £114,099, rises to £157,457.
For SAS doctors, it is:
N Ireland: starts at £61,542, rises to £111,442 (based on 2021-type contract)
England: starts at £63,696, rises to £115,341 (based on 2021-type contract)
Scotland: starts at £64,158, rises to £111,441 (based on 2022-type contract)
Wales: starts at £64,292, rises to £115,343 (based on 2022-type contract).
Mr Nesbitt also told Radio Ulster: “In terms of losing staff and workforce, particularly to Slaintecare [a plan to reform the health service in the Republic], the evidence is not actually there.
“In recent years the number of consultants who are leaving or resigning under the age of 60 is consistently around 2% – maximum.”
Yesterday, Dr David Farren, chairman of BMA’s Northern Ireland consultants committee,told Radio Ulster “doctors in Northern Ireland are paid less than the equivalent in England, Scotland and Wales”.
Ahead of the strike Dr Farren had said: “No doctor wants to take strike action.
“However, there is a palpable sense of anger among all secondary care doctors at years of significant pay erosion in return for trying to deliver care in an overstretched health system.”
In response to Mr Nesbitt’s comments, the BMA has told the News Letter: "Resignation of consultants is just one way of tracking how many doctors are leaving the health service, we are also aware of many resident doctors who quality as consultants and then choose not to pursue employment in NI, opting instead for employment where it is better rewarded.
"At a meeting of SAS doctors and consultants this morning when asked did they know someone who had left to work in Ireland every single person put their hand up.”
On pay, the BMA said: “The fact is that the 3.5% for this year has not been paid yet, unlike for our colleagues in the rest of the UK, so we are already one step behind.
"Consultants in England also get clinical excellence awards which we don’t have in Northern Ireland so it is not a level start.
“Even with the department’s figures, our pay has still eroded by almost 26% since 2008 if you are a SAS doctor depending on what contract you are on, over 26% if you are a consultant and up to 20% if you are a resident.
"And these are conservative estimates based on the most recent RPI rate (3%).
"We are fighting to reverse this pay erosion in full.”