End of devastating NHS strikes in sight as ministers agree to give consultants up to an extra £20,000 each after striking deal with militant unions

High-profile NHS advisers have finally reached a deal with ministers which could spell an end to the devastating strikes.

Officials refused for months to accept their original offer, worth about 6 percent.

But now the government has promised an additional investment of 4.95 per cent in wages, which could see consultants – who earn an average six-figure salary – receive up to an extra £20,000.

The union said the deal follows a month of “intensive negotiations” with the government and that it will now put the offer to members for a vote – a move that could end the industrial action.

Action among NHS staff, which started last December, has led to around 1.2 million appointments being canceled at a cost of £1.4 billion, official figures suggest.

The government has agreed to changes to the pay scale structure of consultants, which will see their pay increase at fewer points. However, doctors will reach the top of the ladder five years earlier than the current arrangement.

It means doctors with eight years’ experience as a consultant will see their pay rise by £19,459, or 12.8 per cent, from January 2024 compared to their earnings up to March 2023.

Although this group of medics are the biggest winners from the deal, those with just two years’ experience will see their wages rise by £5,634, or six percent – the government’s original offer.

Consultants, like other doctors, are expected to see their salaries rise further from April 2024 as part of an annual pay review process.

The BMA said the reforms will benefit women who have been out of work for a period of time and ‘could be disadvantaged under the current system’ and expand the right to shared parental leave – helping to ‘close the gender pay gap in medicine’ will tackle.

Officials also agreed with the union that it will reform the Review Body on Doctors’ and Dentists’ Remuneration (DDRB) – the body that sets doctors’ pay.

The BMA will have a say in the panel’s members and the government will no longer limit how much the DDRB can recommend based on Britain’s economic performance and inflation targets.

The BMA will ask advisors to vote on it these proposals from December. The poll closes in January and results are expected shortly afterwards.

The pay rise will be partly funded by scrapping the Local Clinical Excellence Awards – a scheme that will see the salaries of up to 600 doctors topped up per year by up to £40,000 for the next five years.

The union has also agreed to scrap the rate card, which advises senior doctors to charge hospitals up to £3,440 per shift for cover, such as during strikes by other doctors.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said ending the “damaging strike action” was “critical” in reducing waiting lists.

‘This is a fair deal for consultants who will benefit from major reform of their contracts, it is fair for taxpayers because it does not jeopardize our ongoing work to tackle inflation, and most importantly, it is a good deal for patients to see the end of the crisis. industrial action advisor,” he said.

Health Minister Victoria Atkins said: ‘I really appreciate the work of NHS consultants and am pleased that we have been able to make this fair and reasonable offer after weeks of constructive negotiations.

‘If accepted, it will modernize pay structures, directly addressing gender pay issues within the NHS. It will also increase parental leave options for consultants.”

Dr. Vishal Sharma, chairman of the BMA Advisory Committee, said: “We are pleased that, after a month of intensive discussions and more than six months of strike action that we never wanted to take, we now have an offer to make to members .

“It is a huge shame that it has taken consultants to take industrial action to get the government to this point when we called for talks many months ago.

‘The 4.95 per cent investment and much-needed changes to the pay scale system come after we successfully convinced the government to reform punitive pension tax laws earlier this year, and we now also have commitments to reform the pay review process , that is an important question from the profession during our dispute. Only by restoring the independence of this process can we hope to restore advisor compensation in the years to come.

‘How each consultant benefits from this depends on his or her individual circumstances. We will provide them with as much detail as possible so they can carefully review the details and decide whether to accept the offer.”

Sir Julian Hartley, CEO of NHS Providers, said the deal between the Government and BMA is an ‘essential step’ towards resolving industrial action, which has led to ‘unprecedented disruption of the past year.

He said: ‘Trust leaders will be hugely relieved that advisers will not be striking over Christmas as demand for care is always higher in winter.

‘But we’re not out of the woods yet. The deal must be put to a vote by union members and we won’t know the outcome until January.

‘It is vital that we now see similar progress among junior doctors and SAS doctors to end all industrial action within the NHS.’

Danny Mortimer, chief executive of NHS Employers and chair of talks between the government and the BMA, said it would ‘end the disruption and heartache of the dispute’ if BMA members accepted the deal.

The dispute between consultants and the government began when the BMA argued that senior doctors’ salaries have eroded over the past 15 years.

According to the report, consultants, who are among the top two percent of earners in the country, should see their wages increase by 11 percent.

However, the government had said their six percent wage offer for 2023/2024 was final. This would increase the basic salary of medics from around £88,300 to £93,600.

When additional payments, such as for overtime, are added, the average consultant income would rise to £134,000.

However, the BMA said the offer had left senior doctors ‘angry’ and ‘at rock bottom’ and 86 per cent of senior doctor members subsequently voted back against strike action.

As a result, consultants went to work in July, marking the first strike by senior doctors in a decade. They took further action in August and September, including the first-ever joint strike with trainee doctors.

However, the BMA announced in October that it would pause consultants’ strike action to create a ‘window’ for talks with the government.

It urged the Prime Minister to involve the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) to try to end their pay dispute.

Officials had said the pay would not be negotiated but other incentives could be discussed.

Although official figures suggest that 1.2 million NHS appointments have been canceled due to strikes, this figure is believed to be even higher.

Not all NHS trusts are sharing data on canceled appointments and some hospitals have stopped booking surgeries and consultations for strike days.