GPs in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are yet to receive confirmation from their respective governments on whether the 6% pay uplift recommended by the DDRB will be funded.
The Review Body on Doctors’ and Dentists’ Remuneration (DDRB) report, published yesterday, recommended a 6% pay increase for GPs in all of the four nations, and health secretary Wes Streeting confirmed that his department will fund this uplift for salaried and partner GPs in England.
However, the BMA in Northern Ireland has warned that the country’s Department of Health may ‘not be able to afford’ the DDRB pay uplift.
Meanwhile, BMA Scotland said it will now enter a ‘detailed process’ with the Scottish Government to ‘ensure GP practice running costs are fairly met’.
BMA Wales has said it expects the DDRB recommendations to be ‘honoured’, but reiterated the risk of dispute with the Welsh Government if delays to 2024/25 contract negotiations continue.
The DDRB report recommended a 6% increase to salary scales, pay ranges and the pay element of contracts from 1 April 2024, but it can only make recommendations on GP pay increases and not the total funding uplift received by practices.
Until the respective UK governments confirm details, it is not yet clear what the final practice funding uplift will be.
BMA NI council deputy chair Dr Clodagh Corrigan said the recommendation is a ‘step in the right direction’ but that more work is needed to address ‘pay erosion’ and thus ‘retain doctors’ and tackle the ‘shameful waiting lists’ in Northern Ireland.
He continued: ‘It is however deeply concerning to see the Department of Health indicating they will not be able to afford the pay uplift without cuts to services.
‘The government in England has said that it accepts this recommendation and will apply it to doctors there. Therefore our own health minister now needs to ensure that the same uplift is applied to doctors here as quickly as possible.’
NI Health Minister Mike Nesbitt said he was ‘supportive of the recommendations in principle’ and will be engaging with the UK Government to confirm the financial implications for Northern Ireland and ‘to seek to secure the additional funding required’.
‘The severe budgetary pressures on health and social care in NI mean I am unable to make an immediate decision on the recommendations,’ he added.
In Scotland, secondary care doctors had already ‘withdrawn from the DDRB’ process while pursuing ‘direct negotiations with the Scottish Government’.
GP Committee Scotland chair Dr Andrew Buist said the ‘whole financial package for practices’ is ‘vital’ to attract and retain more GPs.
He added: ‘So, while yesterday’s recommendations are relevant for GPs in Scotland, there is now a further and detailed process to go through with the Scottish Government to ensure GP practice running costs are fairly met, because unless we do that any pay award will not be achieved.
‘That process will be getting underway and we will keep GPs up to date with progress.’
Pulse has approached the Scottish Government for comment.
Responding to the DDRB recommendation, BMA Wales council deputy chair Dr Phil White said it is a ‘step in the right direction’ but there is a ‘long way to go to fix GP pay’.
He said: ‘Doctors in Wales, keenly await the response of the Welsh Government and rightly anticipate that the recommendations of the DDRB will also be honoured in Wales.’
Dr White continued: ‘Despite the fairer settlements reached for doctors working in secondary care for 2023/24, we have a long way to go to fix GP pay.
‘We have called on the Welsh Government to urgently address the crisis in general practice by securing a mandate to allow for GMS (general medical services) contract negotiations to start without any further delays.’
Welsh cabinet secretary for finance Rebecca Evans said that there is a commitment of ‘a much-needed above-inflation pay rise’ but that the details are still to be confirmed.
She said: ‘The Chancellor has given a commitment to the public sector of a much-needed above-inflation pay rise. We will now carefully work through all the details which lie behind the statement and the implications for our budget.
‘We know hard-working public sector workers are keen to find out how much they will be paid in 2024-25 but we need to understand the detail behind this announcement.’
