21 October 2005
Pay rises of at least 4.5% are needed next April or the NHS will haemorrhage doctors and fail to attract new recruits, the British Medical Association argued this week.
In its evidence to the doctors' and dentists' pay review body, the BMA said the increase was needed to give consultants and GPs parity with senior professionals outside the NHS.
It would also compensate junior doctors for the increased cost of training and reduced job security.
However, its demand has set the doctors' body on a collision course with NHS Employers, which told the review body earlier this month that health service finances could not cope with rises of more than 2.5% for all staff.
BMA chair Jim Johnson said the claim was backed by research into comparative earnings of other professionals both at home and abroad.
'Doctors spend years in training and have vast responsibility and workload — it is only right that they should aspire to earning salaries that reflect this,' he said.
PFoct2005
