Doctors’ leaders have expressed outrage that the Government has chosen not to implement the findings of an independent pay review body in full.
The Review Body on Doctors’ and Dentists’ Remuneration (DDRB) recommended an additional minimum increase of 2%, net of expenses, for independent contractor GPs. The award was necessary, the DDRB said, to tackle a number of issues impacting on recruitment, including:
- Increasing demand and the changing role of the GP
- The increasing burden of running a practice
- The increase in the number of GPs taking voluntary early retirement
- Growing evidence for low job satisfaction and declining morale
- The fact that average gross earnings for GPs was lower in 2015-16 than in 2006-07. Over the same period, average practice expenses – such as staff salaries – increased from approximately £140,000 per GP to £187,000 (Table 1)
However, the Government has opted only to increase GPs’ gross pay by 2%, and that increase is being phased in over more than 12 months, and is partly dependent on renegotiation of the GP contract.
Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock announced:
- From 1 April 2018 (backdated) a further 1% would be added to the value of the GP remuneration and practice staff expenses through the GP contract, supplementing the 1% already paid from April 2018 and making a 2% uplift in all. This will enable practices to increase the pay of practice staff
- From 1 April 2019 there would be ‘the potential’ for up to an additional 1%, on top of the 2% already paid, to be paid from
2019-20 conditional on contract reform, through a multi-year agreement. This would cover GP remuneration and practice staff expenses.
BMA GP committee chair Dr Richard Vautrey said: ‘It is deeply concerning that the Government has chosen not to honour the findings of its own independent pay review body across the entire NHS, but specifically for GPs. The nation's beleaguered family doctors and their hard working staff should be receiving at the very least, a 4% pay rise, as recommended by the pay review body, simply to keep services for patients running. For a decade GPs have seen their real terms pay cut by over 20%, resulting in many GPs leaving the profession and doctors not wanting to become GPs. For the new Secretary of State to commit, only last week, to addressing the workforce crisis in general practice and raise hopes of investment in primary care, to now dash those hopes, will signal to dedicated GPs and their staff that they are not valued.’
