Senior NHS doctors in Scotland have accepted a £125m pay deal that will see their basic salaries increase by 10.5 per cent – as public satisfaction reaches its lowest level since before the millennium.
Consultants in the NHS currently receive a basic salary of £105,504 per year, rising to £139,882 after four years.
The new increase will come backdated to April 1 and will see them earn between £10,000 and £13,500 more each year.
Scottish Health Secretary Neil Gray claimed the package brought Scottish consultants’ pay in line with what doctors in other parts of Britain receive.
But in June, the Scottish Social Attitudes Survey found that less than a quarter (23 percent) of people were satisfied with the way health care is run in Scotland.
More than half (52%) of the 1,500 respondents indicate that they are dissatisfied (52%).
It represented the highest level of dissatisfaction since the survey began with the advent of decentralization in 1999.
The Scottish increase comes after the three main unions representing nurses, midwives and other NHS staff in Scotland confirmed they will accept a 5.5 per cent pay rise.
Senior NHS doctors in Scotland have accepted a £125m pay deal, boosting their basic salaries by 10.5 per cent
Scottish Health Secretary Neil Gray claimed the package brought Scottish consultants’ pay in line with what doctors in other parts of Britain get
Mr Gray said: “I am very pleased that the consultants have voted to accept our pay offer.
‘This will ensure that our consultants feel valued, supported and fairly rewarded.
‘It will bring Scotland back into line with recent pay deals in other parts of Britain, keeping our NHS competitive in recruiting and retaining consultants.’
In addition to the 10.5 percent increase in basic pay, a further £5.7 million will be invested in other contractual elements, the Scottish Government said.
BMA Scotland previously said the additional investment meant the offer was the equivalent of an 11 per cent increase and put the deal to members with a recommendation to accept it.
Dr. Alan Robertson, chairman of the BMA’s Scottish Advisory Committee, said: ‘Overall, we believe – and the vote shows this is shared across the profession – that this year’s pay rise is an important first step in tackling wage erosion for consultants.
‘It will help maintain Scotland as an attractive place for consultants to work, improving retention and therefore benefiting the NHS and the patients whose care suffers when vacancies are not filled.
“However, there is much more to do and build on from here – it is far from the end of the story.
“We still have some ground to make up to get wages back to past levels and make up for what we’ve lost due to poor pay and the impact of inflation.”
In September, young doctors voted in favor of a pay deal after two years of strikes that brought the NHS to its knees.
The government’s deal will see their salaries rise by an average of 22.3 percent over two years, the British Medical Association (BMA) said.