Our priorities

The committee is working on a number of matters affecting SAS doctors in Scotland.

SAS doctors continue to make an essential contribution to NHS care, yet ongoing pay erosion, limited recognition and barriers to career development have left many feeling undervalued. SSASC continue to  press the Scottish Government for meaningful action on pay, wellbeing, staffing and progression.

SAS contract

In 2022, BMA Scotland negotiated with the Management Steering Group (MSG), on behalf of the Scottish Government and NHS Scotland employers, on new SAS doctor contracts in Scotland.

The negotiations concluded with MSG presenting a full and final contract package, comprising a revised Specialty Doctor (2022) contract and the introduction of a new Specialist (2022) grade.

Scottish SAS Contracts – Key Changes

The new SAS contract package introduces a Specialist grade and a revised Specialty Doctor contract, creating a clearer career pathway and improving recruitment and retention of experienced SAS doctors in Scotland.  

Key benefits include:

• Improved pay structures, with faster progression through the Specialty Doctor pay scale and higher starting salaries for many doctors.  
• A new Specialist grade for senior SAS doctors, providing an alternative career route.  
• Enhanced on-call payments and stronger protections around out-of-hours work, while retaining Scotland’s existing 7pm–7am out-of-hours period.  
• New limits on weekend working, shift patterns and onerous on-call commitments to support work-life balance and reduce fatigue.  
• Improved job planning arrangements, including clearer SPA allocations, team service planning and a strengthened disputes process.
• Better recognition and remuneration for additional work, including waiting list initiatives and short-term absence cover.  
• Increased annual leave entitlement and greater flexibility for private practice and secondary employment.

SPA provisions:
The new contracts set out clearer minimum Supporting Professional Activities (SPA) allocations within job plans, helping ensure doctors have sufficient time to meet appraisal and revalidation requirements.

Minimum SPA allocations:
These minimum allocations should make SPA discussions smoother, particularly for doctors working less than full time. Doctors should ensure the allocation is sufficient for job planning, appraisal and revalidation. SPA time should be clearly identified in the job plan, with any additional SPA work, such as teaching, training or audit, agreed and recorded separately.

• 5 or more total programmed activities, including EPAs: 1.0 PA
• More than 2 but fewer than 5 total programmed activities: 0.5 PA
• 2 or fewer total programmed activities: 0.25 PA

Overall, the contract modernises SAS terms and conditions while strengthening pay, career development, job planning and sustainable working arrangements.

For details of each contact visit the Scottish SAS doctors contract page.

Improving the working lives of SAS doctors

Improving the working lives of senior doctors in the NHS was identified as a clear priority to support recruitment, retention and the wider sustainability of services. The latest BMA wellbeing survey results indicate that members want urgent action on burnout, unsafe staffing and the pressures facing SAS doctors, all of which are central to achieving a safe and sustainable NHS for patients and staff.

The wellbeing survey also found that 23% of respondents considered their workload unmanageable, 65% said work was having a negative or adverse impact on their wellbeing, and 54% were unable to achieve a good work-life balance. On pay, 79% were dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with how the DDRB recommendations recognised their NHS contribution, and 68% said imposition of the award would reduce morale. These pressures are already affecting workforce capacity: 35% of wellbeing survey respondents said they were reducing their hours, while 40% said they would be more likely to leave the NHS if the proposed award was imposed.

Pay, wellbeing and workforce capacity are closely linked. Without comprehensive action, staffing pressures will increase, service safety will be put at risk and the challenges facing the Cabinet Secretary will deepen. The survey evidence will be used to inform and strengthen the BMA’s forthcoming engagement with the Scottish Government.

SSASC has completed work with the Scottish Government and NHS Employers in Scotland through the Improving SAS Doctors’ Working Lives Group, which was established to consider the attractiveness of the SAS grade in Scotland. This work included supporting full implementation of the Scotland SAS Charter and reminding all NHS boards in Scotland of the need to comply with its provisions, with a particular focus on priority areas such as job planning and clinical coding. NHS boards were asked to ensure that processes were in place so that, where SAS doctors have overall responsibility for patients, this is accurately recorded through clinical coding under the name of the individual SAS doctor. Further information is available in the Scotland SAS Charter. 

SAS doctor training and development

The SAS professional development fund in Scotland provides funding to support SAS doctors in Scotland pursue development and education opportunities. It is overseen by NHS Education for Scotland (NES) - supported by an associate postgraduate dean - and has BMA SAS doctor representation on its programme board, whose function is to provide strategic overview and direction for the SAS development programme, and to act as a decision-making panel to prioritise applications to the fund. There is a network of regional educational advisers, all of whom are SAS doctors, as is the associate postgraduate dean.

SSASC continues to highlight the vast benefits of the fund to SAS doctors in Scotland. 

Read more about the fund

Our people

Chair: Sine Steele

Deputy chair: Stuart Strachan

Our meetings

SSASC meets four times a year to discuss the latest issues affecting SAS doctors in Scotland. These meetings are open to members of the Scotland SAS committee only, but non-voting BMA members can come along and participate as part of the BMA committee visitors scheme.

The timing of meetings are 10.30 until 1pm.

Meeting dates:

• Wednesday 16 September 2026 (Hybrid)
• Wednesday 27th January 2027 (virtual)
• Wednesday 28 April 2027 (virtual)
• Wednesday 3 June 2027 (Hybrid)

Meetings are currently held virtually or at, 

BMA Scotland
14 Queen Street
Edinburgh
EH2 1LL

How to join

There are many advantages to becoming involved in our committees. You can actively influence BMA policy-making and negotiations, represent your colleagues' voices and develop your leadership skills.

Each committee has a few routes to becoming an elected member. In the case of SSASC, these are:

The election section below is kept up to date with details about any running elections, so make sure you keep checking it throughout the year.

Elections

There are currently vacancies within the Scottish SAS committee for Fife, Greater Glasgow and Clyde, and Grampian.

If you are a SAS doctor in any of these regions and would like to get involved in the work of this committee please contact Fiona Dawson at [email protected].

For updates on the current SAS contract negotiations visit SAS contract negotiations and to read the SSASC chair’s blog on the BMA Scotland page.

Get in touch

If you are interested in finding out more about the work of the SSASC, email us. ​

Keep up to date with the work of the BMA Scotland SAS Committee via our blogsite.