UK NEWS
MEDICS’ FURY AT ‘CUT’ TO SALARIES
WARNING: Health secretary Nicola Sturgeon
By Judith Duffy
DOCTORS and dentists yesterday accused the Scottish Government of cutting their pay, as the SNP announced record funding for health boards.
GPs said a pay award of just under 1 per cent next year would leave their salaries falling far behind those of doctors in the rest of the UK, with surgeries already struggling with rising expenses.
And dentists claimed efficiency savings which they are expected to introduce would be unrealistic for “underfunded” practices.
The warning came as health secretary Nicola Sturgeon announced funding for NHS boards would rise to £8.4billion for 2010-11.
She said the amount equated to a 2.7 per cent increase, with the extra money being prioritised for spending on frontline services.
Dr Brian Keighley, chairman of the BMA in Scotland, said: “We are well aware of the financial climate in which this decision is being made, but the independent pay review body took these factors into account in coming to its recommendations.
“The Government has scaled back the uplift that was essential to counter increases in GPs’ expenses, which has resulted in another pay cut for family doctors at a time when Scottish GP earnings are falling far behind GPs in the UK.”
The Doctors’ and Dentists’ Review Body recommended NHS dental fee scales be increased by 1.44 per cent next year.
But the British Dental Association, which has requested an urgent meeting with the Scottish Government, warned that this would be reduced to 0.9 per cent because of efficiency savings.
Dr Robert Kinloch, chairman of the Scottish Dental Practice Committee, said: “The idea that one per cent efficiency savings can be found is simply unrealistic.
“This is a pay cut. If that’s what the Scottish Government intended, it should have said so.”
However, Ms Sturgeon said it was a “broadly fair and affordable award in the current circumstances”.
