Scrap doctors’ clinical bonus scheme, says NHS Employers

2 Dec 10
A £400m scheme to reward clinical excellence among doctors is out-dated, unfair, not transparent and needs to be reformed or scrapped, NHS Employers said today.

By David Williams

2 December 2010

A £400m scheme to reward clinical excellence among doctors is out-dated, unfair, not transparent and needs to be reformed or scrapped, NHS Employers said today.

Submitting evidence to the Doctors’ and Dentists’ Review Body, the organisation criticised the Clinical Excellence Award Scheme, which gives the best doctors bonuses of up to £75,000.

The payments usually continue to retirement, regardless of the individual’s ongoing performance, and are included as pensionable income.

NHS Employers said its member organisations have ‘significant concerns about the scheme,’ arguing that it does not always reflect individual performance or the needs of local health organisations.

Director Dean Royles said the scheme should either be abandoned completely or managed locally as part of health trusts’ overall pay and reward arrangements.

He said: ‘Every penny in the NHS must be used wisely to safeguard patient care particularly at a time when difficult financial decisions have to be made.

‘While it is essential that the very best doctors are appropriately rewarded, there is no place for a scheme that lacks transparency and fails to effectively reward the best medical practice.

‘NHS organisations have told us that they feel burdened by an ineffective and unaffordable scheme that they have little control over – and a revision is urgently needed.’

Did you enjoy this article?

AddToAny

Top