Yahoo News Angry doctors and nurses attack Scottish Government pay cap of one per cent
Angry doctors have warned that Scotland’s already over-stretched and under-resourced NHS workforce will come under even more pressure after the Scottish Government capped pay increases at one per cent.
Doctors and nurses said the announcement would do nothing to tackle recruitment problems and send the wrong message to staff who were being asked to deliver more every year from an “already inadequate budget”.
With the latest figures showing inflation at 2.3 per cent, both groups raised concerns about the growing gap between wages and the cost of living.
The pay cap was announced as it emerged that one GP surgery is closing every month due to staff shortages, and amid warnings from whistle blowers that it is only a matter of time before staff shortages at one busy infirmary result in a death.
The BMA said repeated real terms cuts to doctors’ pay had taken a “substantial toll” on incomes and did nothing to address the ongoing recruitment and retention difficulties for all grades of doctor, while a nurses’ leader said there had been a real terms fall in nursing pay of around 14 percent since 2010.
Dr Peter Bennie, chairman of BMA Scotland, added: "The announcement that yet again the pay of doctors in Scotland will go up by just one per cent while the rate of inflation is at 2.3 per cent means that once again doctors pay will decline in real terms.
"Repeated years of real terms cuts to doctors' pay have taken a substantial toll on incomes and do nothing to address the significant recruitment and retention difficulties across all grades of doctor.
"At a time when doctors' workloads are increasing like never before, there will be widespread disappointment and anger at the decision to continue this approach.”
Simon Barker, chairman of the association’s consultants’ committee, said it had learned with “great disappointment” that ministers had decided to “ignore the recommendation of its independent pay review body to recognise and value the hard work of NHS consultants for the second year running”.
He said the announcement also came at a time when the most recent figures confirmed a worsening situation for consultants north of the border, with almost seven per cent of posts unfilled, and nearly half of those empty for more than six month.
He warned: “We will never recruit and retain the specialists that our health service needs if we fail to recognise and reward their efforts.”
Nurses also condemned the decision to cap pay rises at one per cent for those earning over pounds22,000.
Norman Provan, associate director of the Royal College of Nursing, said the Scottish Government had missed an opportunity to close the gap between nurses’ pay and inflation and the sector would continue to “bear the brunt of austerity measures in the NHS in Scotland”.
Meanwhile, it was reported that at least 14 GP practices have shut since the start of 2016. Five practices have closed in the NHS Lothian area, three in Ayrshire and Arran, three in Highland, two in Fife and one in Tayside.
Claire Walker, a GP for 14 years at Strathesk Medical Practice in Bonnyrigg, Midlothian, said: "A lot of days we are only providing an emergency service because we do not have enough doctors. I am extremely concerned about the state of primary care in the NHS.”
On Tayside, The Courier reported that whistle-blowing nurses claimed it was a matter of time before staff shortages at Perth Royal Infirmary led to a death - a claim denied by management.
Shona Robison, the health minister, said NHS employees were valued “enormously” and claimed pay restraint had to be seen in the context of cuts to Scotland’s budget in recent years.
She added: “All directly employed NHS Scotland staff will receive at least a one per cent uplift in pay. We will also continue to guarantee a living wage for all NHS staff, and maintain our commitment to no compulsory redundancies.”
