- Monday, March 31, 2025
Dr Vishal Sharma said the agreement marked ‘the end of the beginning’ in the consultants’ efforts to restore their pay scale to 2008 levels.
By: indiaweekly.biz Staff
THE year-long strike to see improvement in the pay scale of senior National Health Service (NHS) consultants has concluded, the Indian-origin chairperson of the British Medical Association’s (BMA) Consultants Committee announced on April 5.
The confirmation came after the NHS doctors accepted the government’s pay offer.
Dr Vishal Sharma, the committee chairperson, said the truce marked “the end of the beginning” in the consultants’ efforts to restore their pay scale to 2008 levels, adding that it is “imperative” for the review body to make use of its independence to ensure that there is no further disputes.
Around 83 per cent of NHS consultants who took part in a three-week referendum tabled by the BMA doctors’ union voted in favour of accepting the offer.
Read: Junior doctors begin new five-day strike over pay dispute
“The last year has seen consultants take unprecedented strike action in our fight to address our concerns about pay and how the supposedly independent pay review process was operating,” said Sharma.
I’m pleased NHS consultants have accepted this deal. This is excellent news for patients.
We can now continue making progress towards our goal of cutting waiting lists, which have fallen for the fourth month in a row. https://t.co/5qaFCUKh3z
— Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) April 5, 2024
“After years of repeated real-term pay cuts caused by government interference and a failure of the pay review process, consultants have spoken and now clearly feel that this offer is enough of a first step to address our concerns to end the current dispute,” he added.
Read: Sunak stalled deal to resolve doctors’ strikes, report says
Sharma also noted that they have reached the current state not only through tough negotiations with the government but also because the consultants showed a firm resolve. He also lauded them for staging the strike with full responsibility — ensuring that they are safe and effective on several occasions, giving the message that there was no question of backing down.
The BMA said the latest offer reflects an improvement on the government’s previous proposal to reform the consultant pay scale.
It now includes a 2.85 per cent (£3,000) uplift for those who have been consultants between four and seven years who, under the original offer, received no additional uplift.
The upgrade is in addition to the six per cent pay uplift awarded during the review body’s process last year and is separate from the pay award following the outcome of the review body process for 2024-25.
The outcome will come as some relief for prime minister Rishi Sunak, whose government has been trying to resolve strike action in the healthcare sector over the last two years as it piled pressure on the taxpayer-funded NHS, extending waiting lists for hospital treatment.
“The end of consultant strike action in the NHS is excellent news for patients. It will mean we can continue making progress towards our goal of cutting the waiting lists, which have now fallen for the fourth month in a row,” the PM said.
“Consultants perform a vital role at the heart of the NHS – I’m pleased they’ve accepted this deal, which is fair for them and fair for the taxpayer,” he said.
(with PTI inputs)
