Doctors' salaries drop by 22% in a decade, official research finds

Doctors’ salaries have declined by 22% in the decade between 2005 and 2015, according to new Government research.

A study by University College London and the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, which was commissioned by the Office of Manpower Economics, found that public pay policy, including the policy to cap public sector pay rises at 1%, has meant that doctors’ pay has dropped in real terms.

This comes one month after health secretary Jeremy Hunt accepted a recommendation that doctors should see a 1% pay rise in 2017/18.

However, the uplift recommended at a time when the cost of living rate increased to 2.3% – the highest it had been in three years.

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Dr Chaand Nagpaul, BMA council chair, said there is ‘growing support’ to end the pay cap for doctors, nurses and allied health professionals.

He said: ‘With the NHS at breaking point, politicians cannot continue to duck this issue.

‘Investing in the NHS workforce and providing fair terms and conditions must be a priority for this Government, otherwise the NHS simply won’t be able to attract and keep the frontline staff needed to deliver safe, high-quality patient care.’

Pulse reported last week that health minister Philip Dunne, said there was ‘a degree of injustice’ in the pay rise given to MPs while the rest of the public sector faced a 1% pay cap.