Senior doctors in Northern Ireland vote to accept pay offer

Senior doctors in Northern Ireland have agreed to accept a pay offer.

The British Medical Association’s Northern Ireland Consultants Committee (NICC) accepted after members voted “overwhelmingly” in favour of the deal.

It came following pay negotiations after consultants received a “credible” pay offer from the Department of Health, leading them to suspend strike action planned for June.

The offer is described as including a revised consultant pay scale with uplifts at all pay points, the highest percentage uplift in the UK this year, and the highest consultant starting salary in the UK.

However junior doctors in the region remain in dispute with the Department of Health over pay and the Northern Ireland Specialists, Associate Specialist and Specialty Doctor Committee is moving towards a formal ballot of members over pay later this year.

NICC chairman Dr David Farren said consultants feel the offer is a “positive first step towards full pay restoration”. 

“Consultants bear ultimate responsibility for patient care, they are key to addressing the waiting list crisis and lead on training doctors and clinical innovation, yet in Northern Ireland their pay did not reflect this level of responsibility,” he said.

“This deal begins the process of making our pay more attractive and competitive with our UK counterparts, which is critical at a time of chronic workforce shortages here.”

Dr Farren added: “While we are glad to have resolved this particular pay dispute, it is regrettable that it took other UK nations reaching pay deals and an overwhelming yes vote for strike action before the department made a credible offer to open pay negotiations.

“It should never have reached that point. Valuing the skills of our workforce and ultimately protecting patient care was at the core of this dispute.

“The department must now demonstrate that it values doctors by continuing to work with us on reversing years of below-inflation pay awards and to improve our terms and conditions.

“That includes timely and prompt payment of this pay award and all future pay body recommended uplifts.”