![]() ![]() Yet the BMA should take responsibility for its role in the UK’s dwindling healthcare workforce. The shortage of medical staff is a huge problem, as it all but guarantees burnout for the doctors and a less certain quality of care for patients. The BMA’s own reporting of the strikes put far more emphasis on the relentless nature of the job: endless night shifts, zero breaks. While it may be incorrect to say that junior doctors are outrageously underpaid, they are, however – like all other doctors and, indeed, patients – trapped in an often dysfunctional bureaucracy that does sometimes require them to tolerate dangerous conditions. That is hard to square with other public priorities, in particular the urgent need to address NHS England’s waiting list of seven million. There’s a feeling inside government that this is the first Gen Z strike, organised by people in their twenties and demanding a 35 per cent rise. One of the leaders of the junior doctor strikes has been away on holiday this week, an odd priority for someone spearheading a would-be revolution. But are doctors really treated so unfairly that they can justify a four-day strike (after a bank holiday) which cancels an estimated 350,000 appointments? Again, this is not to say that doctors don’t deserve their money: every society needs to lure the best and brightest into the health service. There is a reason last month’s Budget from Jeremy Hunt removed the ‘lifetime allowance’ on pensions in a bid to keep more doctors in the NHS: very few professions see workers earn enough (and get such big pension top-ups) to come near a £1 million pension pot limit. Prospects: the average doctor can expect to retire on a personal fortune that stands in enviable comparison with peers in the private or public sectors. But those striking are, comparatively, the well-remunerated. Inflation has without doubt brought misery to millions. But can we really say that this is not reflected in their remuneration? Quite right, you might argue: nurses are some of the most valued people in society. Both doctors and nurses benefit from this hugely generous pension plan, which is why, when everything is factored in, the average NHS nurse is on a package of £50,000, rising to £60,000 in London. For every £10 paid to a junior doctor, the taxpayer contributes £2 to their pension pot – a 20 per cent contribution scheme. ![]() This is all while still carrying the ‘junior doctor’ title.Įven this does not take in the full picture. Get through those first years, and a junior doctor’s pay, based on the latest set of data, approaches double the average wage: doctors classified as being in ‘core training’ or as ‘speciality registrars’ earned, on average, just under £56,000 and £63,000 respectively last year. And this is only the jumping-off point for doctors’ pay. But at these levels, first-year junior doctors are still some of the better-paid workers in Britain. Average earnings for a Foundation Year 2 doctor were just over £43,000 in the same fiscal year, more than £10,000 higher than the average salary. This combines the basic pay rate with non-basic pay fees (including working unsociable hours), and adds up to thousands more than the average UK worker is paid. ![]() The latest figures, for last year, show a typical doctor in their first year of work for NHS England is paid just more than £37,000. But that isn’t happening, not even for junior doctors in their first year on the job. Being stuck on a salary of roughly £29,000 per year – the lowest rung on the pay scale – would surely be an injustice, not least because of the unsociable hours and inevitable stress that the job demands. But how typical is that scenario of those demanding a 35 per cent pay rise?įirst-year junior doctors are still some of the better-paid workers in Britain, and this is only the jumping-off pointĪ doctor can be classified as ‘junior’ for years, depending on what type of medicine they practise. To think of notoriously overworked junior doctors in such circumstances is outrageous. The union talks about members having to ‘cut back on food and heat to pay bills’. How much money do junior doctors really earn? If you’ve been listening to the British Medical Association – the trade union which represents junior doctors – this week you will have seen comparisons made between their salaries and the wages of Pret A Manger employees. ![]()
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