Hospital Doctors Union representatives have warned pay review body members to reject the Westminster government’s below-inflation pay claim and act to boost doctors’ salaries to stabilise the medical workforce.
The call came at an oral evidence session of the Review Body on Doctors’ and Dentists’ Remuneration in London.
Representing HDU were President Dr Claudia Paoloni, Resident Doctors’ National Executive Committee member Dr Matt Church and Vice-President Dr Anna Beattie.
Against a backdrop of continued discontent, Dr Paoloni told DDRB members to “consider the cost of not awarding doctors an award they’d accept” and urged them to “deliver the investment in the workforce on which the NHS depends.”
HDU research highlights that pay remains a key driver of dissatisfaction among all grades of hospital doctors, alongside other worsening conditions which are leading doctors to consider cutting hours or leaving the NHS altogether.
The union’s formal written submission for 2027-8 makes the case for pay restoration via a multiyear framework of above-inflation awards.
Consultants have faced the greatest real-terms loss of wages since 2008/09, although all grades continue to earn less in real terms than they did 19 years ago.
HDU’s written submission details the current situation facing the medical workforce and draws on key findings of the union’s annual survey, including:
- Two-thirds of hospital doctors and dentists across all grades said morale in their workplace was “low” or “very low”
- 60 percent said they experienced unreasonable stress at least half the time
- 44 percent said they had struggled with their mental health in the past 12 months
- More than half of consultant respondents reported not being allocated enough Supporting Professional Activities time
- The majority of resident doctors across the UK are yet to see any progress from initiatives to improve their day-to-day lives
- Specialty doctors in England report significant barriers to progress into the Specialist grade due to lack posts and support
- Local employed doctors, now 11 percent of the workforce in England, are being left behind on training and development
HDU is a key stakeholder in the pay review process on behalf of hospital doctors and dentists of all grades.