GP leaders consider action on “derisory and divisive” pay award

The British Medical Association’s (BMAs) England GP committee have condemned the recent governmental pay announcement

Last week the government announced a 4.5% pay uplift for some doctors, which falls far below current levels of inflation, expected to reach 11% this year.

However, it excluded anything for GP partners in England who are locked into a five-year contract deal agreed pre-pandemic, including any extra funding to meet recommended pay awards for other staff.

This was despite the DDRB (Review Body for Doctors’ and Dentists’ Remuneration) urging the government to consider the impact of omitting those on multi-year deals from this year’s announcement, and stressing the “harm that may be caused to recruitment, retention and motivation by not acting”.

At a meeting of the BMA’s England GP committee (GPC England) on Thursday, July 21st, members passed a resolution proposed by Dr Karthik Bhat and Dr Chandra Kanneganti that rejected the pay award and committed representatives to further discussions around next steps, including potential industrial or collective action.

BMA England GP committee deputy chair, Dr Richard Van Mellaerts, said the following:

“For GPs who have spent the last two years pulling out all the stops to continue caring for their communities – often to the detriment of their own health and wellbeing – only to be left repeatedly unsupported and publicly admonished by the government and policymakers, this week’s announcement only sought to demoralise and devalue GPs further when they were already down.

“To put it bluntly, the 4.5% ‘pay rise’ was nothing of the sort, amounting to the wages of hardworking staff being cut by more than 6% in real terms. Meanwhile, the government has wilfully ignored the pay body’s recommendation to give GPs who run practices any extra funding, meaning they have no means to meet even this small uplift for staff nor to pay for rocketing practice expenses.

“With inflation pressures set to reach 11%, something has to give, without understanding and support from government, practices will fold and patients will have no access to the care that they need.

“With spiralling costs, record demand and workforce shortages across the board, we know practices across the country are already struggling to provide safe care, and the government has now actively chosen a path that compromises this further”.