Manx Care 'cannot afford' to meet BMA pay demand

Teresa Cope said Manx Care spends £9m annually on pay awards

Meeting a 12.6% pay demand by doctors' union is unaffordable for the Isle of Man's health care provider, its chief executive has said.

It follows an announcement by the British Medical Association (BMA) that 155 consultants, salaried GPs and dentists would be balloted over industrial action.

Despite being formally rejected by the BMA, Manx Care's board will implement a 6% an interim measure for the 2023-24, and has offered a 4% rise for 2024-25.

Chief executive Teresa Cope said it was "disappointing from both sides" that the pay dispute could not be resolved, but the health care provider had offered everything it could from its pay budget.

The BMA has argued pay for some of its members had faced "real term cuts" of up to 19% in pay since 2008.

The union said inflation on the island had increased by 56.3% since then, but "the maximum consultant’s salary increased by just 27.3% over the same period".

Manx Care recently announced £5m of wide-ranging cuts to services in an effort to balance its books.

'Still earn more'

However, Ms Cope said the gap between the BMA's demand and the full amount the health care provider could offer was “a significant difference at any stage", but particularly when it was "facing such wider challenges around its funding”.

She said: "This is not about me saying ‘I don’t think the doctors are worth a 12.6% uplift’, what I’m saying is as the accountable officer for Manx Care, I can’t afford to accommodate 12.6% from the budget accommodation I have.”

Ms Cope said the situation had been “perpetuated” by the fact that long-running pay disputes with the BMA had already been settled in the UK, but argued that "broadly our doctors still earn more than the UK",

"At the top of the scale it’s a difference of about £30,000 more per annum,” she said.

Bridging the gap between the pay award offered for 2023-24 and the 12.6% requested, Manx Care would need to find up to a further £4m, she said.

“It’s disappointing from both sides because we want to have a really positive working relationship with the BMA and doctors, and we know it is a source of tension and stress for both sides, but that size of gap is difficult to resolve," she added.