Coronavirus: BMA calls for pay rise for NI doctors

The BMA said a pay uplift for doctors would be a "timely decision" from health minister Robin Swann

The British Medical Association (BMA) in NI has urged the health minister to give doctors a pay uplift.

Doctors in England, Scotland and Wales were awarded a 2.8% increase on Tuesday.

Delays to the pay awards process for doctors and dentists in NI have been criticised in a official report.

The Department of Health said Robin Swann is keen to see this year's pay award "resolved more quickly than has been the case in recent years".

The Review Body on Doctors' and Dentists' Remuneration (DDRB) report, published on Tuesday, said "delays to the pay award process in Northern Ireland continue to be unacceptable".

"The pay award for 2018-19 was only made in November 2019, more than halfway through the following financial year, and almost 18 months after the DDRB made its recommendations.

"That the 2019-20 financial year's pay award has, at the time of writing, still not been implemented is similarly unacceptable.

"We expect pay awards to be made in a timely fashion following the submission of our reports, and this has unfortunately not been happening in Northern Ireland for some time."

The chair of the BMA in Northern Ireland said the delay "has impacted morale and contributed to lack of pay parity".

Dr Tom Black said a pay uplift was "the very least" Stormont's Department for Health could do

"The last four months of the Covid-19 pandemic will have been one of the most stressful periods of doctors' working lives and yet they responded to it with commitment, hard work and innovation," said Dr Tom Black.

"Willingly working long, unsociable hours away from their loved ones and putting their own wellbeing and lives at risk in the process.

"Doctors and other frontline health service workers will be called on again to work above and beyond for our health service during what will be the busiest winter period it might see yet.

"The very least the Department of Health can do is to recognise these efforts by implementing the 2020/21 pay uplift in a timely fashion."

• Pay rise for almost 900,000 public sector workers

• Remembering 100 NHS workers who have died

• Coronavirus not over by Christmas, experts warn

A spokesperson for the Department of Health said: "The minister wants those on the health and social care frontline in NI to be properly rewarded for their work and commitment.

"Decisions on public sector pay awards are taken in the context of the annual public sector pay policy set by the Department of Finance."

A Department of Finance spokesperson said that while NI departments provide evidence to the pay review bodies, there is a local discretion by executive ministers as to the application of their recommendations.

"This will also be considered in the context of local pay policy."