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Alongside nurses, midwives, clinical support workers, and other junior doctors, I have worked hard as an anaesthetic registrar on the Covid-19 frontline. We have, as Dame Clare Marx (Chair of the General Medical Council) put it, dealt with ‘the biggest challenge to face the NHS since it was founded’ (1). We have seen our colleagues fall ill - tragically, some have not survived.
We are dedicated to the NHS, and the messages of support that we have received from the nation have been humbling, and encouraging. However, rightly or wrongly, salaries remain a common metric for official expressions of appreciation – and there will be many key-workers who are in great financial need. The July announcement of pay-rises for doctors and the public sector, to recognise ‘their efforts on the frontline’, appeared to show that the Government acknowledged our endeavours (2).
But this pay rise is not for all, or indeed, for many. Nor is it the reward it claims to be.
All of the staff covered by ‘Agenda for Change’ are excluded – registered nurses and nursing support workers, midwives, radiographers, porters and domestic staff, physiotherapists, and many others (3). So, too, are Junior Doctors in England (who range from newly-qualified to near-Consultant level). How is it that so many frontline professionals have been disregarded? The answer lies hidden in plain sight.
All public sector employees have their salaries appraised annually by independent pay review bodies. This year, the Treasury has ‘accepted the headline recommended rise for each workforce’. According to the Government, it has done so to ‘reflect the enormous effort made by those in the public sector in responding to the unprecedented challenges for the country during the Covid-19 outbreak’ (2,4).
In other words, a business-as-usual annual increment, recommended by independent pay review bodies, has been re-branded and marketed as a reward for public sector workers. The staff covered by Agenda for Change are excluded, since their negotiated pay deal already accounts for business-as-usual. So too does the contract for the junior doctors in England.
It is disheartening that a contractual and appropriate annual increment has been misleadingly dressed up as an additional reward for hard work, dedication and hardship. The Doctors’ and Dentists’ Review Body (DDRB) stated clearly that their recommendations do not seek to take account of Covid-19, and that separately they would ‘urge governments to consider the role that members of our remit group have played, and whether any additional recognition should be given to acknowledge this contribution’ (5).
As a frontline doctor, who has witnessed first-hand the dedication of the entire NHS workforce, I sincerely hope that the Government will reconsider the recognition it gives to us all.
Do not be deceived – the NHS ‘pay-rise’ is not for Covid-19
Dear Editor,
Alongside nurses, midwives, clinical support workers, and other junior doctors, I have worked hard as an anaesthetic registrar on the Covid-19 frontline. We have, as Dame Clare Marx (Chair of the General Medical Council) put it, dealt with ‘the biggest challenge to face the NHS since it was founded’ (1). We have seen our colleagues fall ill - tragically, some have not survived.
We are dedicated to the NHS, and the messages of support that we have received from the nation have been humbling, and encouraging. However, rightly or wrongly, salaries remain a common metric for official expressions of appreciation – and there will be many key-workers who are in great financial need. The July announcement of pay-rises for doctors and the public sector, to recognise ‘their efforts on the frontline’, appeared to show that the Government acknowledged our endeavours (2).
But this pay rise is not for all, or indeed, for many. Nor is it the reward it claims to be.
All of the staff covered by ‘Agenda for Change’ are excluded – registered nurses and nursing support workers, midwives, radiographers, porters and domestic staff, physiotherapists, and many others (3). So, too, are Junior Doctors in England (who range from newly-qualified to near-Consultant level). How is it that so many frontline professionals have been disregarded? The answer lies hidden in plain sight.
All public sector employees have their salaries appraised annually by independent pay review bodies. This year, the Treasury has ‘accepted the headline recommended rise for each workforce’. According to the Government, it has done so to ‘reflect the enormous effort made by those in the public sector in responding to the unprecedented challenges for the country during the Covid-19 outbreak’ (2,4).
In other words, a business-as-usual annual increment, recommended by independent pay review bodies, has been re-branded and marketed as a reward for public sector workers. The staff covered by Agenda for Change are excluded, since their negotiated pay deal already accounts for business-as-usual. So too does the contract for the junior doctors in England.
It is disheartening that a contractual and appropriate annual increment has been misleadingly dressed up as an additional reward for hard work, dedication and hardship. The Doctors’ and Dentists’ Review Body (DDRB) stated clearly that their recommendations do not seek to take account of Covid-19, and that separately they would ‘urge governments to consider the role that members of our remit group have played, and whether any additional recognition should be given to acknowledge this contribution’ (5).
As a frontline doctor, who has witnessed first-hand the dedication of the entire NHS workforce, I sincerely hope that the Government will reconsider the recognition it gives to us all.
1. www.gmc-uk.org/news/news-archive/doctors-will-stop-at-nothing-to-provide.... Accessed 26/07/2020.
2. www.gov.uk/government/news/pay-rises-for-doctors-police-and-more-in-the-.... Accessed 26/07/2020.
3. Royal College of Nursing Member Briefing on Pay, July 2020.
4. www.gov.uk/government/news/nhs-doctors-and-dentists-to-receive-2-8-pay-rise. Accessed 26/07/2020.
5. Review Body on Doctors’ and Dentists’ Renumeration. Forty-Eighty Report 2020. Sections 2.36, 2.37, 2.45, and 10.24.
Competing interests: No competing interests