Proposed GP Pay 'Freeze' Slammed

Family doctors are outraged over plans to call a halt to pay increases.

The Chancellor Alistair Darling has recommended a pay freeze for 40,000 senior public servants in 2010/11 and has written to salary review bodies calling on them to freeze the pay of judges, senior NHS managers and GPs.

However, about 700,000 middle-ranking public servants, including doctors, dentists and prison officers, will get a rise of between 0 and 1%.

After the unions said they were "disappointed" and the Tories questioned the timing of the news - coming during their party conference - the British Medical Association (BMA) has today also attacked the move.

BMA Chairman, Dr Hamish Meldrum, said: "Penalising all doctors, and in particular singling out GPs for a total pay freeze, is completely the wrong move and is likely to prove counterproductive.

"Doctors do not dispute that the economic crisis necessitates difficult decisions but Mr Darling is choosing the wrong target and using the wrong weapon," he insisted.

He said that, rather than punishing the front-line staff "who are achieving better clinical outcomes than ever before", they need to "fundamentally re-think health policies to ensure taxpayers' money is not wasted".

He said that hundreds of millions of pounds of NHS funding has been lost on poor value Private Finance Initiatives, expensive ISTC contracts and unnecessary advice from management consultants, together with the market-driven reforms that allow commercial providers to profit from the NHS.

"As the recession takes its toll on people's health, frontline staff will be required to work at greater intensity. This is the time to support and value them, not demoralise and punish them," he said.

"In our evidence to the review body on doctors' and dentists' remuneration, we have called for a modest 2% salary increase for hospital doctors, and a 2% increase in net earnings for GPs.

"We feel that a 2% rise takes account of the economic downturn and likely squeezes on public sector finances but still recognises the hard work and dedication of staff at a time when health services are likely to be under even greater pressure.

"Finally, the pay review body is an independent organisation and we urge it not to be bullied by the government and to make its own decisions on pay, based on all the evidence," the top medic said.

It also emerged today that a Tory government would also freeze public sector pay, the Shadow Chancellor told his party's Manchester conference today.

Outlining the Conservatives' spending plans, George Osborne said he would halt pay increases for judges, doctors, teachers and emergencies services staff in 2011.

See: Tories Would Freeze Public Wages

(BMcC/KMcA)