How much do resident doctors striking over NHS pay really earn

Rexpatriate doctor Will strike before ChristmasThe British Medical Association (BMA) has confirmed. In the five-day strike, employees will be on strike from 7 am on December 17 to 7 am on December 22.

This is the 14th strike of doctors since March 2023, a similar five-day strike go out Last month.

The BMA says the government has “failed to offer a credible plan to fix the jobs crisis for resident doctors” and said “no credible proposals on jobs or pay” have been made.

Dr Jack Fletcher, chair of the BMA’s Resident Doctors Committee (RDC), said: “However, these do not need to be taken further. A gradual pay increase over a few years and some common sense reforms to protect the job security of our doctors are within this government’s reach.”

Resident doctor salaries have increased by almost 30 per cent over the past three years, including a 22 per cent increase since the Labor Party came to power. however, BMA it is said so doctors They need an additional 26 percent increase over the next few years to restore their salaries. inflation Since 2008 it has seen virtual destruction.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting The move was described as a “blasphemous attempt to ruin Christmas”.

“After a 28.9 per cent pay rise, the government offered to create more jobs and put money back into the pockets of resident doctors. The BMA rejected this outright, refusing to put the proposal before its members, thereby blocking a better deal for doctors,” he said.

Resident Doctor, formerly known as junior doctorQualified doctors are in their first years of training. A fifth are completing their first two foundation years, while the remainder are in core or special registrar training.

Agree Salary Those on foundation training range between £38,831 and £44,439, with specialist training salaries rising to £73,992. This includes the 5.4 per cent increase given earlier this year, but does not include London’s weighting.

The BMA wants salaries to rise to between £47,308 and £54,274 for foundation doctors in the flexible negotiation period, and to a maximum of £90,989 for residents in specialist training at the highest end.

How much are residents paid compared to other doctors?

The current salary for resident doctors is between £38,831 and £44,439 per year, for a 40-hour week, and does not include additional pay for working longer hours or night shifts, which varies significantly per person.

Doctors with core or specialist training can earn £52,656 per year, rising to £73,992 per year at the highest level.

The government has said this works out to an average of around £54,300 for resident doctors at all stages of training.

During this time, ConsultantsThose who have specialist knowledge in a particular medical field earn a basic salary of between £105,504 and £139,882 per year.

After two years of basic training, it usually takes around five to eight more years for doctors to become eligible for consultant roles, although the wait can be longer.

nurse The low salary band for a newly qualified nurse, according to , starts at around £31,049 NHS‘Agenda for change.

This can go up to £54,710 for ward managers and £96,0000 for the most senior specialist nurse,

Dentists employed by the NHS start at £42,408 per year and rise to £94,000 for the most senior roles and £105,000 for dental consultants.

This puts resident doctors in the same starting range as dentists, and 22 percent higher than nurses.

How far do wages lag inflation?

inflation Central to the BMA’s demands is the argument that even after the uplift, resident doctors’ salaries have declined by 20.9 per cent since 2008.

With the current 5.4 per cent rise, the BMA says doctors will not be able to restore their pay for 12 years, or 2036.

Instead, resident doctors are seeking a multi-year agreement to restore their pay, which would require at least a 29 percent pay increase.

However, BMA figures are calculated using Retail Price Index (RPI) inflation, which is no longer used as a national statistic. This includes factors such as house prices, council tax and mortgage rates.

Using the official measure of inflation, the Consumer Price Index (CPI), the Nuffield Trust calculated that doctors’ salaries had fallen by a nominal 4.7 per cent over the same period.

In cash terms, excluding inflation, foundation-year resident doctors have seen substantial salary increases in recent years.

First-year foundation doctors were paid just £29,384 in 2022; Which means the new 5.4 percent raise equates to a total pay increase of 32 percent over that figure.

While 2022 saw the highest rate of inflation in four decades, and doctors’ pay was already falling behind, this is a much larger increase than other public sectors.

For example, the starting salary of nurses has seen an increase of only 14.8 percent over the same period, less than half that of resident doctors.

Doctors’ salaries compared to other public sectors

Doctors and medical staff provide essential public services. So, how do their salaries compare to police and firefighters?

According to the Firefighters Union (FU), a trainee will earn around £28,265 per year, rising to £37,675 after becoming a fully “competent” firefighter in 1–3 years.

At present, overtime is paid at £25.80 per hour. Firefighters typically work two-day, two-night shifts, with four days off in between.

According to the FU, the highest pay for “area manager” firefighters is £69,283; London waiting is not included.

Meanwhile, Police Federation figures show that constables start at £29,907 a year (without London weighting), rising to £48,000 for the highest pay band.

Chief inspectors in London can earn up to £72,700 at the highest level.

This suggests that resident doctors start at a moderately higher salary range, with greater potential for advancement. But comparing these areas of work is a challenge.

£70,000

Doctors must complete several years of medical school before qualifying.

This forces many doctors into debt before entering the workforce – something that is not a requirement for other emergency services, including firefighters and police.

Doctors’ salaries are low compared to other countries

In France, most doctors are self-employed, except for a minority who are employed directly in hospitals. Starting salaries are already expected to be around £3,400 per month, which would amount to £40,800 per year.

According to Public Health Service figures, the average salary of a general practitioner is £84,000. For a radiotherapist this can go up to £350,000.

According to national statistics, the low starting salary for doctors in Canada is around £46,000. But the average salary is around £122,000, with the maximum salary being £236,000 per year.

Overall salaries for doctors are highest in the United States, with significant variation by state. Because private health care salaries are unstandardized, it is difficult to compare starting salaries directly.

But according to Glassdoor, resident doctors in the US are paid between £51,000 and £86,000 on average, while some surgeons earn more than £500,000 a year.

It is important to note that the NHS is relatively unique in that it is funded by the taxpayer.

Canada has a similar system that covers 70 percent of health care costs, known as Medicare. Most doctors are paid on a fee-for-service model and not a fixed salary.

France has a reimbursement model where patients pay mostly upfront, and can be partially or fully reimbursed by the state.

And the US has some form of free health insurance, known as Medicaid; But it covers a declining share of the population. Ultimately, doctors are paid privately through insurance, even though the state subsidizes some health care.

In this way, the UK is somewhat unique in how taxpayers bear the burden of paying public health care, except for private doctors.