CONSULTANTS in Northern Ireland are being encouraged to back a “credible” pay offer after months of intense negotiations.
Last month, BMA consultants suspended a 24 strike to allow the Department of Health time to make an offer.
Senior medics now have between July 31 and August 21 to decide on what equates to a 5.26% additional uplift, backdated from last March.
This is in addition to 6% already awarded as part of the 2023/24 DDRB (Doctors’ and Dentists’ Review Body).
A separate pay review process for 2024/25 is also ongoing.
📢BMA Northern Ireland consultants committee to put pay offer to doctors in pay dispute 📢
— BMA Northern Ireland (@BMA_NI) July 19, 2024
Consultant members, we have emailed you with details of this offer. Please check your emails for further information.
Read our press statement - https://t.co/fZ21jirhhA pic.twitter.com/jo2UHZYRTn
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Other changes being proposed are a revised consultant pay scale, proving higher career earnings and better starting pay.
It follows a national BMA conference in Belfast last month, where doctors were warned of a brain drain to the Republic due to much higher pay and better conditions.
Day one #ARM2024
— BMA Northern Ireland (@BMA_NI) June 24, 2024
In his final speech as Northern Ireland Council chair, @TomblackBlack calls for health to be the number one funding priority for governments in all four nations.
Read his full statement - https://t.co/DRed3gkp5D pic.twitter.com/yGPa13avUF
Dr David Farren, chair of the BMA’s Northern Ireland consultants committee, said: “After an intense negotiation process, we believe we have reached an offer that secures significant improvements in pay for consultants across their careers and is a credible and real step towards pay restoration. We will now put this offer to our members and we are encouraging them to vote yes.”
Calling it a recognition of the hard work and expertise senior doctors provide, he said making consultant pay more attractive in Northern Ireland would go some way to address the chronic workforce shortages.
“However, this does not mean our efforts towards achieving full pay restoration are over. We will continue to work hard to reverse years of below inflation pay awards and to improve terms and conditions for our members,” he said.
This will include closely monitoring all future DDRB pay award recommendations and actions from the Department of Health.
Dr Farren added: “The overwhelming mandate in favour of industrial action we received in our ballot (92%) showed the level of frustration among consultants from years of unfair treatment over pay. Going forward, we expect to be treated fairly again with remuneration that reflects our skills and expertise.”
Welcoming the development, Health Minister Mike Nesbitt said: “This is a positive step forward and reflects the commitment and willingness that there has been on both sides to find a solution. I want to thank the BMA’s Northern Ireland Consultants Committee for their work in recent weeks and hope that the offer is now accepted by members.
“Our health service would be nothing without our hard-working workforce and I am committed to doing what I can do support them.”
Meanwhile, a pay dispute with junior doctors in Northern Ireland remains ongoing, with Mr Nesbitt previously stating that a new contract would have to be negotiated first before any new pay offer.
The BMA NI junior doctors committee, however, has said there must be at least some progress on pay before the extensive work on agreeing a new contract could progress.
