SAS doctors accept pay offer

SAS doctors in Northern Ireland have resoundingly backed a new pay deal described as a ‘credible step towards full pay restoration’, following a two-week referendum.

Specialists, associate specialists and specialty doctors have endorsed a pay offer from Stormont after 94.7 per cent of members participating in the online ballot voted yes to new terms.

The deal will see doctors employed under the 2021 specialist and specialty doctor contracts receive an annual pay increase of up to 7.1 per cent.

Meanwhile staff employed under ‘closed contracts’ such as the 2008 associate specialist and specialty doctor grades will receive a consolidated uplift of £1,400.

These increases and payments will come in addition to a 6 per cent uplift in pay for 2024/25 previously recommended by the Review Body on Doctors' and Dentists' Remuneration.

BMA Northern Ireland specialists, associate specialists and specialty doctors committee chair Leanne Davison welcomed the result of the ballot, which saw a turnout of 63.2 per cent, stating that SAS doctors had given a clear endorsement of the offer on pay. 

She added, however, that the newly agreed deal should be viewed as a starting point towards further improvements and ultimately full pay restoration for SAS doctors.

She said: ‘SAS doctors in Northern Ireland clearly feel this offer from government is a credible step towards full pay restoration.  

‘We are a smaller branch of practice within the health service, but we are an integral and highly skilled part of the medical workforce. We are also among the most senior clinicians in the health service, working alongside our consultant and resident doctor colleagues, however our pay did not reflect this. 

‘By improving SAS doctors pay in Northern Ireland, it shows that the essential role they play in the health service is valued. This pay deal will also go some way to improving the recruitment and retention of SAS doctors at a time of chronic workforce shortages and escalating workloads.

‘While we are glad to have resolved this particular pay dispute without the need to hold a formal ballot for industrial action, it should not take other UK nations reaching pay deals before credible pay offers can be made in Northern Ireland.

‘We will continue to push the Department for further improvements to SAS doctors’ pay and career development to reverse years of deterioration. That includes addressing the unacceptable, annual uncertainty around DDRB pay uplifts to doctors and the impact this has on workforce.’

The road to the ballot and an improved offer on pay began in May this year when SAS doctors in Northern Ireland entered a dispute with Northern Ireland’s Department of Health, as doctors railed against the damaging effects of year-on-year pay erosion on the workforce.

Under the terms of the newly agreed deal, uplifts in pay will be backdated to 1 April 2024, and will see:

• A realigning of the 2021 contract pay scales, lifting basic pay for everyone on these terms
• A consolidated uplift of £1,400 to each pay point for those on the 2008 contract
• A consolidated £1,400 for those on the pre-2008 contracts and anyone still employed on associate specialist and staff grade contracts
• Measures to facilitate career progression.

For more information on the new deal, visit the BMA website.