Virus docs finally get paid – four months later ...

The GPs say Belfast Trust made them an initial pay offer – on what they said was trainee doctor rates – on the very last day of their contract.

They had been running the Covid-19 ‘step down’ hospital in The Ramada Hotel for seven weeks during the most tense days of lockdown.

The doctors worked 24-hour shifts from April 15 to June 4, supervising Covid-19 patients who had been discharged from hospital but were not fit to return home.

After repeated inquiries about pay, seven weeks after starting work their line manager emailed them a “proposed” pay package – on the same day their emergency care centre closed its doors. But some of the GPs responded that this proposal did not reflect their responsibilities or experience levels.

After that, they claimed there was almost total silence from the trust while they repeatedly reached out to secure an agreement.

When their spokesman, Dr Neil Wilson, 66, contacted the News Letter in mid-July he said communication quickly improved and the trust said it was “making progress” on making payment.

He told the News Letter that all six GPs had finally paid, on the terms originally proposed by the trust on the last day of their contract.