Responding to the publication of the Government's evidence to the Review Body on Doctors' and Dentists’ Remuneration (DDRB), which recommends a below-inflation 2.4% uplift to doctors' pay, BMA council chair Dr Tom Dolphin said:

“It beggars belief that at a time when patients are being treated in hospital corridors and car parks, people are waiting too long for a GP appointment and the Government’s pledge to bring down waiting lists is stalling, ministers are saying doctors deserve a pay cut.

“While we’ve secured hard-fought progress in recent years, the bottom line is that pay for doctors is well below what it was 20 years ago, having experienced larger salary reductions than any other professional group.

“Cutting pay is not the way to tell a workforce you value them, and doing so will do nothing to keep doctors in the country and the NHS, working to improve the experience of patients and performance of services.

“In the short term, when we have groups of doctors in dispute, and with consultants in England having a mandate for strike action, a failure to recognise and value their expertise risks further industrial unrest and disruption. In the long term we lose doctors and the crisis in our NHS deepens. The current project by policymakers and NHS bosses to replace doctors with non-medical staff on the cheap is already risking patient safety.

“The pay review body, the DDRB, will face a test of its independence, and we urge its members to consider what the NHS and patients really need, rather than be hamstrung by a Government telling them it is not prepared to invest properly in the medical workforce.”

Notes to editors

The BMA is a professional association and trade union representing and negotiating on behalf of all doctors in the UK. A leading voice advocating for outstanding health care and a healthy population. An association providing members with excellent individual services and support throughout their lives.