BMA welcomes pay cut U-turn
Association calls off dispute in Birmingham after planned cut to overtime pay is scrapped
The BMA has called off planned action at a trust in Birmingham, after trust leaders scrapped a proposed ‘dangerous cut’ to staff overtime pay.
The association has welcomed a decision by University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust to abandon plans which would have seen an effective pay cut on doctors working beyond their contracted hours.
Following a meeting on 13 November, with the BMA local negotiating committee, the trust has agreed to scrap its proposed changes and continue renumerating staff at pre-existing rates.
Under the now abandoned proposals, medical staff undertaking overtime work at the trust would have been paid at their basic salary rate.
Warning the plans would disincentivise doctors from taking overtime, increase the burden on other staff and ultimately undermine patient care, the BMA announced on 8 November it was seeking to enter a formal dispute with the trust.
Following yesterday’s meeting, however, dispute action has been suspended with a view to continuing 'meaningful engagement' between the trust and LNC over future changes to rates of pay.
‘A way forward’
Welcoming the decision, BMA West Midlands regional consultants committee chair Rinesh Parmar said he and his colleagues would continue to work closely with the trust to ‘find a way forward’.
He said: ‘We are relieved this dangerous cut to pay rates for extra work doctors do outside of their contracts has been averted but this issue is far from resolved.
‘Without fair pay we run the risk that these shifts will go unfilled, leading to understaffed wards, burnt-out doctors, and patients who suffer poorer and delayed care. We’ll be working closely with UHB to agree a way forward that protects doctors and patients.’
An agreement reached between the BMA and Department of Health earlier this year states that pay rates for additional, non-contractual work completed by doctors should be negotiated at local level rather than be determined solely by trusts.
In a letter to staff, UHB acknowledged its decision making and communication of the planned changes to pay had not been ‘broad enough’ and apologised to staff for any ‘distress, upset and mistrust’ it had caused.
