As junior doctors in Northern Ireland staged their first ever day of strike action, The Irish News explains the pay dispute and what local doctors currently earn.
The British Medical Association has repeatedly stated that inflation has eroded junior doctor pay in Northern Ireland by 30% over 15 years.
They are calling for an immediate above-inflation pay award and restoration to 2008 levels.
According to the BMA, junior doctors in their foundation training will start with a basic salary of £26,713 for working a 40 hour week.
The BMA has said this is the equivalent of £13 an hour, although doctors will receive more payment for out-of-hours working.
By contrast, junior doctors in England will start on a much-higher £32,398 a year.
Stormont’s Health Minister Robin Swann has pointed out, however, that junior doctor contracts in Northern Ireland differ and there is a more favourable rate for out-of-hours working.
Those going through their speciality training in Northern Ireland can earn between £35,405 to £46,842, while speciality doctors can earn up to £55,670.
Consultants in Northern Ireland start with a basic salary of £88,799 which moves up to £119,723 depending on length of service.
For salaried GPs in Northern Ireland, the BMA list the pay range as between £69,974 and £105,592.
The current junior doctor pay offer from the Department of Health for 2023/24 is for 9.1%, with 10.7% for those in their first year.
This would mean that first year doctors will get an extra £2,858.
For a doctor in specialist training on £35,405, the uplift would mean and extra £3,221.
Junior doctors on the upper end of £55,670 would get a further £5,065.
A full pay restoration of 30%, would mean doctors currently earning £26,713 would earn an extra £8,013 or £34,726.
This would be around £2,000 more than the current starting level in England.
Dr Fiona Griffin, chair of BMA’s Northern Ireland junior doctors committee, has said that unacceptable pay and conditions are causing an “acute workforce crisis” that is not being taken seriously.
She said that members had instead “been dismissed with an offer that was essentially the minimum we could have been given.”
Calling on the Health Minister Robin Swann to negotiate, she said only an above inflation pay award and a commitment to full pay restoration would prevent “the vicious cycle of staffing shortages and worsening patient care”.
A Department of Health spokesman has said negotiating for a 2024/25 pay award and for other areas like junior doctor contracts remains the most constructive option.
The 2023/24 backdated pay offer, they said, should be viewed in the context of of pay settlements across the wider Northern Ireland public sector.
In addition, they said the department was limited to implement the recommendations of the independent pay review bodies or mirror pay settlements in England.
“This approach is being applied to all health service staffing groups. It is not possible to make exceptions,” they said.
