Doctor in hospital scrubs talks to elderly patient 906829760

Restoring pay for SAS doctors in Northern Ireland

Specialists, associate specialist and specialty doctor pay in Northern Ireland has dropped by nearly a third in real-terms over the last 15 years. Now more than ever we need to restore pay to retain and attract to the SAS workforce and protect the integrity of our profession.

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Results of our indicative ballot of SAS doctors in Northern Ireland

We’ve had years of sub-inflationary pay rises and have not even received the derisory award the DDRB recommended last year. This all means that since 2008 our pay is now approx 31% less than it should be, when compared to RPI inflation.

We recently held an indicative ballot of SAS doctors working in Northern Ireland on whether you would be prepared to move towards industrial action. 43% of SAS BMA members responded with 86.5% of those respondents stating they are willing to take industrial action. It is clear from this result that you are no longer willing to put up with poor pay any longer.

The next steps

We will be monitoring the situation in England and Wales to ensure that SAS doctors here retain parity with colleagues elsewhere in the UK.

We are calling for the DDRB recommended 6% pay uplift to be applied in Northern Ireland immediately.

We will also be asking for an above inflation pay uplift and a commitment to full pay restoration.

We have also written to the Permanent Secretary for Health asking for an urgent meeting to discuss the results of the indicative ballot and our asks over pay.