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Salaried GP 3% pay rise ’empty promise’ without attached funding, says BMA

Salaried GP 3% pay rise ’empty promise’ without attached funding, says BMA

A 3% pay rise announced by the Government for salaried GPs in England comes with no extra funding for practices to pay for it, the BMA has pointed out.

GP committee chair Dr Richard Vautrey said the pay rise was a ‘completely empty promise’.

He added that the Department of Health and Social Care had ‘yet again’ completely ignored the hard work of GP partners during the pandemic.

The Government had proposed a 1% pay increase for doctors in March, but has now accepted the Review Body on Doctors’ and Dentists’ Renumeration (DDRP) of 3%.

The pay offer, which is backdated to 1 April, applies to NHS staff including hospital doctors and salaried GPs in England. GP partners are excluded as they are still under the five-year pay agreement which expires in 2024/25. Junior doctors are also not covered by the offer.

Dr Vautrey said: ‘It’s shameful for the Government to sell this as a pay rise for doctors, while asking other doctors to foot the bill.

‘Salaried GPs will rightly want to be paid the full uplift announced today; GP partners will rightly be thinking about where that money will now have to come from and what cuts they will have to make to afford it.

‘All GPs have gone above and beyond during the pandemic – yet with this announcement the Government attempts to divide the profession by not giving partners the funding needed to pay the 3% uplift. It’s absolutely critical that the Government provides this additional money to practices now so they are able to do this.

‘Partners will feel that their hard work and sacrifices of the last 18 months – when they have moved heaven and earth to transform services as well as leading the vaccination campaign – have been completely ignored. They will yet again feel undervalued by ministers, further plunging levels of morale when many are at rock bottom.’

BMA council chair Dr Chaand Nagpaul said: ‘It is disappointing that today’s announcement of a 3% pay uplift for doctors in England does not adequately recognise the extraordinary contribution of doctors working in the most challenging period in their professional lives…

‘Junior doctors and GPs on multi-year pay deals in England have given just as much of themselves as all doctors  to care for their patients – and yet have been callously disregarded in this pay award and will receive less than their peers.’

The BMA had called for a 5% pay rise for hospital consultants.

Health secretary Sajid Javid said: ‘NHS staff are rightly receiving a pay rise this year despite the wider public sector pay pause, in recognition of their extraordinary efforts. We asked the independent pay review bodies for their recommendations and I’m pleased to accept them in full, with a 3% pay rise for all staff in scope, from doctors and nurses to paramedics and porters.

‘We will back the NHS as we focus our efforts on getting through this pandemic and tackling the backlog of other health problems that has built up. I will continue to do everything I can to support all those in our health service who are working so tirelessly to care for patients.’

The Welsh Government has also announced a 3% uplift for NHS staff.

Health minister Eluned Morgan said: ‘This pay rise recognises the dedication and commitment of hardworking NHS staff and the enormous contribution they have made. It is also a recognition of how valued they are by Welsh communities.’

In its review, the DDRB said it welcomed provisions that had been put in place by the Welsh Government to ensure that pay uplifts are passed on to salaried GPs and other practice staff and would encourage other UK governments to take a similar approach.

It follows contract negotiations for last year in which the Welsh Government agreed to uplift staff budgets by the full amount recommended by the DDRB with the expectation it would be passed on to staff

A spokesperson for BMA Wales said that GMS contract negotiations – which would include discussions around practice running expenses – are underway.

‘We would expect a recognition that the award for GP principals is not contingent on changing contract arrangements beyond expenses discussions,’ they added.


          

READERS' COMMENTS [16]

Please note, only GPs are permitted to add comments to articles

Nick Mann 22 July, 2021 12:22 pm

A £3000 flat rate pay rise for all would be fairer.

David jenkins 22 July, 2021 12:37 pm

this is about “divide and rule”

do not get involved in squabbles amongst yourselves – that is exactly what the politicians want.

instead, stick together, do YOUR job, then go home. don’t take on any extra (i.e. unpaid) work, or put up with “dumping”. if the money doesn’t follow the work, explain to the patient (remember them ?) that YOU cannot do it. refer anything you are not resourced to do. send expedite letters, if necessary daily (give copies to the patient, so they know you’ve done your bit). make sure you have a contract, and stick to it.

remember when the politicians “assumed” that gp’s would continue to staff cottage hospitals after the new contract was enforced on us ? remember how quickly that issue was resolved ?

lucily, i am “just a locum” – i.e. “not a proper doctor” ! however, that is a big plus, because i can decide when, and where, i want to work. i regard myself as a “bare knuckle doctor”, an “old school dinosaur”, and therefore i shan’t be putting up my fees in order to show solidarity with colleagues who have been “promised the moon, but told they’ll have to go and fetch it themselves” !

but if any politician wants to try and persuade me to do “that bit more” to bail out the service itself, for which THEY are responsible, that conversation is not going to happen.

Patrufini Duffy 22 July, 2021 1:32 pm

Hancock got more than 3% worth.

Dave Haddock 22 July, 2021 1:41 pm

The BMA called for a prolonged lockdown and consequent inevitable stifling of economic activity. Now they complain there isn’t enough money? Well, duh!, where do they think the money comes from?

terry sullivan 22 July, 2021 2:39 pm

MPs are the elite-back bench mp gets total package around £300000–and can retire on full pension at 60 if 20 years service. pension is a 20th scheme, nolta and db ie not final salary

also MPs pay no tax on employer funded expenses

John Graham Munro 22 July, 2021 2:58 pm

David Jenkins—— I will now attract more vitriol from my colleagues(see if I don’t)——–watch these altruistic foolish G,Ps accept this paltry 3%——they are a disgrace to the profession ——-as they work all hours God sends whilst a loving family and close friends look on in despair——they seem to want to end up in tears at an asylum

Michael Crow 22 July, 2021 5:00 pm

Salaried GPs will expect their 3% rise (forgive me but as I am no longer a partner but I expect it is in the contract). Other staff will be expecting their rise. Expenses of running a practice are rising fast along with inflation but GPs have agreed a five-year pay agreement which expires in 2024/25. Once again GP partners look as if they are going to have to fund this out of their own pockets. This is why being a partner is not an attractive option. Partners have to pick up the pieces when anything happens, fill in any gaps themselves or foot the bill. To me the obvious thing is that the money must follow the work. Partnerships should only do the work that they are paid for and commissioners should take the funding away from secondary care to pay for the work they are not doing. How many penalties have been imposed on secondary care for breach of contract by commissioners? I suspect not many.

David Church 22 July, 2021 8:19 pm

Dave Haddock : I think you will find BMA called for a proper lockdown, not a half-hearted one, and oone that stayed the course first time around, to enable rapid economic recovery like in Aust and NZ, not the premature relaxation of healf-hearted measures that has encouraged a prolonged period of economic damage!

John Glasspool 22 July, 2021 8:27 pm

Surely, the GPs will have to fund it out of partnership drawings? Again. It astonishes me how GPs put up with this excrement. Yet they do. I can onlyl assume they enjoy the abusive relationship.

Mark Leonard 23 July, 2021 11:30 am

As far as I’m concerned Salaried GP’s working in General Practice are covered by the 5-year deal, as are all our staff. The BMA need to remember their own words (https://www.bma.org.uk/pay-and-contracts/contracts/gp-contract/gp-contract-england-202122) from earlier this year.

Giles Elrlngton 23 July, 2021 1:32 pm

David Jenkins – sending expedite letters is very like offering an unfunded pay rise. Did you this that secondary care has spare slots for those expedited? If hospitals marked all referrals as urgent they’d be seen at the same time as if they were all marked routine.

John Graham Munro 24 July, 2021 12:15 am

David Jenkins/Giles Elrington—— Always send a copy of your referral letter to the Chief Executive

Peter McEvedy 24 July, 2021 11:26 am

Have already given our salaried GPs their pay rise and considerably more than 3%. Would prefer them all to be partners but recognise that some simply do not wish this. Have also awarded our staff a good pay rise as well as all have been working their utmost this year and deserve it.

Andrew Jackson 26 July, 2021 4:55 pm

why doesn’t the BMA announce that the Government had agreed an additional pay rise for theatre nurses and Consultants will be paying for this from their own salaries and see what happens

Hot Felon 27 July, 2021 8:51 pm

Late 50s left partnership for salaried role last year.
So glad I did.
Cannot believe partners have to fund this – what a joke.
Everyone except GP partners got a pay rise, as NHSE has lied saying it was already paid as part of some long forgotten uplift.
Meanwhile I’ll take the 3%!
Partnership is the most unpleasant, outdated, miserable toxic shit show ever invented.
How can you continue to take the battering and abuse day in day out?

John Graham Munro 28 July, 2021 8:10 am

Hot Felon——–steady on—–they’re stressed out——-have you not heard?