Scottish senior doctors accept an 11 per cent salary bump – after patient satisfaction plummets to a 25 year low

Senior NHS doctors in Scotland have coted to accept a £125 million pay deal that will see a their basic salaries hiked by 10.5 per cent — as public satisfaction hit the lowest level since before the millennium. 

Consultants in the NHS currently take home a basic salary of £105,504 a year, rising to £139,882 after four years.

The new increase will be backdated to April 1 and will see them earn between £10,000 and £13,500 more each year.

Scottish Health Secretary Neil Gray claimed the package brought Scottish consultants’ pay in line with what doctors get in other parts of the UK.

But in June the Scottish Social Attitudes Survey found under a quarter (23 per cent) of people were satisfied with how the health service is being run in Scotland.

More than half (52 per cent) of the 1,500 respondents said they were (52%) are dissatisfied.

It represented the highest levels of dissatisfaction since the survey began at the advent of devolution in 1999.

The Scottish rise comes after the three main unions representing nursing, midwifery and other NHS staff in Scotland confirmed they will accept a 5.5 per cent pay bump.

Senior NHS doctors in Scotland have coted to accept a £125 million pay deal that will see a their basic salaries hiked by 10.5 per cent

Scottish Health Secretary Neil Gray claimed the package brought Scottish consultants’ pay in line with what doctors get in other parts of the UK

Mr Gray said: ‘I am very pleased that the consultants have voted to accept our pay offer. 

‘This will ensure that our consultant workforce feel valued, supported and fairly rewarded.

‘It will bring Scotland back into line with recent pay deals in other parts of the UK, ensuring our NHS remains competitive when recruiting and retaining consultants.’ 

In addition to the 10.5 per cent uplift to basic pay, a further £5.7m will be invested in other contractual elements, the Scottish Government said.

BMA Scotland previously said the additional investment meant the offer was the equivalent of an 11 per cent rise and put the deal to members with a recommendation to accept.

Dr Alan Robertson, chairman of the BMA’s Scottish consultant committee, said: ‘Overall, it is our view — and the vote indicates this is shared across the profession — that this year’s pay uplift is an important first step in addressing consultant pay erosion.

‘It will help maintain Scotland as an attractive place for consultants to work, improve retention and therefore benefit the NHS and patients whose care suffers as workforce vacancies go unaddressed.

‘However there is much more to do and build upon from here – it is far from the end of the story. 

‘We still have ground to make up to restore pay to levels of the past and make up what we have lost to poor pay awards and the impact of inflation.’

In September junior doctors voted to accept a pay deal after two years of strikes which brought the NHS to its knees.

The deal from the Government will see their pay increase by 22.3 per cent on average over two years, the British Medical Association (BMA) has said.