Locally-employed doctors ‘should be properly paid’

Doctors have condemned the practice of employing doctors on local contracts with terms and pay that compare unfavourably with peers on BMA-approved contracts.

Members of the association’s representative body voted to stand in solidarity with locally employed doctors at the BMA’s annual representative meeting.

A motion asking the BMA to accelerate work to end such practices by all relevant employers and mandate the union to actively campaign to increase the membership density of locally employed doctors (LEDs) was passed.

It called on the BMA to work with these doctors and other branches of practice to organise to the point of industrial action in order to achieve parity for these doctors

It insisted that the BMA works with employers until the only contracts available are those approved by the BMA.

Paul Evans, a GP in Gateshead, said the motion was important to resident doctors, SAS doctors, consultants, GPs and medical students as well as LEDs themselves

He said ‘replacement project 1.0’, as he termed the roll out of physician associates, has ‘failed’ but warned that increased use of LED roles was ‘replacement project 1.1’.

‘Put yourself in the shoes of an NHS manager, a minister or a trust manager. LEDs can prescribe, they can request radiation, they can practise a lot more independently. They basically fix the holes in the PA project and, helpfully, they also do not have the rights to BMA contracts, they’re cheaper, they’re often IMGs dependant on their employers’ grace to stay in the UK.’

He called this exploitation of some IMGs as ‘shameful’, noting: ‘They are largely un-unionised, and this motion helps fix that.

‘Why would a trust bother creating expensive NHS training posts, GP, SAS and consultant posts when you can hire cheaper doctors who won’t be awkward and strike for fair pay and conditions.

‘This motion seeks to end such exploitation by mandating the BMA to seek to bring these doctors into the union fold. It demands these doctors be helped to organise so they are no longer the cheap and disposable churning third option for cynical, shameful trusts.

‘It ultimately makes the roles of LEDs obsolete, protecting doctors’ terms and conditions and patient safety, tying in with existing advance, training pathways for doctors working in the UK and students about to graduate.’

Kapilraj Ravendren, a locally-employed doctor based in North London spoke of his experience.

He said: ‘It’s wrong that we’re paid less for the job and we’re doing the same as any other doctor. To progress, we also have to pay for our courses.

‘I believe in inclusion, diversity and fairness. LEDs should be properly paid and there should be a proper contract rather than relying on what the trust wants to pay us.’

BMA treasurer Trevor Pickersgill said the motion was ‘ambitious but not contentious’ and ties into existing work being carried out on behalf of LEDs, such as calling for the DDRB to offer LED pay parity, and the LED contract transfer process

Beyond those demands, he said there was a potential financial benefit to the BMA by recruiting LED doctors and would offset any costs the work might entail.