Consultants call for extra money to be spent on discretionary salary points

Consultants have rejected incentive payments put forward by health secretary Alan Milburn last month as “divisive” and will be calling on their colleagues to push for a new allocation of discretionary points to improve salaries.

Under Mr Milburn's proposals, put together after consultants overwhelmingly rejected a new contract last year, trusts had three options for rewarding senior clinicians. The first was to implement the disputed contract, if staff agreed. The second was to introduce annual incentive payments, with doctors performing best getting the greatest rewards. And the final option was to allocate money in the form of discretionary points and clinical excellence awards, which would be given …