Friday 20 August 2010

Top doctors could be forced to take £10,000 pay cut by Government

Bonuses for clinical excellence can be worth around £80,000 a year for the best consultant-grade doctors but Andrew Lansley, the Health Secretary, is expected to ask them to be trimmed. The Times reported that Mr Lansley will ask the independent Doctors’ and Dentists’ Review Body, which sets pay and bonuses, to bring the scheme “in line with other public sector pay schemes”.

Bonuses cost the NHS around £350million every year, with around two thirds of that being paid out directly through the awards for clinical excellence. Mr Lansley's ideas will not be uniformly opposed. Several high-profile figures have asked for the awards for consultants to be scrapped. They were introduced in the '40s to reward outstanding work but now more than half of all senior doctors receive such a bonus, leading some to question whether they are an effective incentive.

Another criticism is that once a consultant receives such an award, it is paid annually, providing a five-yearly review is passed. The Times estimated that the 29,000 medical consultants working in the NHS earn between £74,500 to £100,000, but reported suggestions that the review body could cut bonuses by as much as 15 per cent, meaning some doctors could lose more than £10,000 a year.

Medical associations said such high ranking staff were not overpaid and frequently worked beyond the call of duty. John Stanley, of the Royal College of Surgeons, said: "Doctors may feel less inclined to go the extra mile.”
Stephen Campion, of the Hospital Consultants and Specialists’ Association, said: "It will be met with considerable hostility from the profession.”