NHS medical and dental staff will be awarded a 4.5% pay increase for this year backdated to 1 April 2022. This is for all NHS Scotland medical and dental staff, general medical practitioners and general dental practitioners.
This comes following recommendations by the independent Doctors and Dentists Pay Review Body (DDRB) of an annual pay uplift of 4.5% for NHS medical and dental staff. The Scottish Government has accepted this recommendation.
The Scottish Government, BMA Scotland and other relevant stakeholders all participated and provided evidence to the DDRB to allow them to make their independent recommendations.
This year’s award builds on the 3% uplift that was recommended and applied by the Scottish Government in 2021. This means staff have been awarded a 7.5% pay increase over the last two years – but inflation currently stands at over 9% and rising.
Health Secretary Humza Yousaf said: “The NHS has faced its biggest challenge during the pandemic and staff have been working tirelessly to continue to provide care while under increased pressure.
“The continued hard work and dedication of staff ensures that the people of Scotland continue to receive world class healthcare as we remobilise NHS services and tackle waiting times.
“This uplift demonstrates that we value all our medical and dental staff and the important contribution they make. It’s crucial that we continue to not only recruit and build our future NHS workforce, but also retain expertise within NHS Scotland.
“This announcement means that our senior medical staff will continue to be the best paid in the UK. This will help ensure that NHS Scotland remains an attractive employment option for all medical and dental staff.”
The 4.5% pay uplift will be applied to all NHS medical and dental staffing grades and will be included in salaries with backdated payments to 1 April 2022 to follow as soon as practical.
Scotland’s health union UNISON is balloting 35000 NHS staff across Scotland to recommend they reject the Scottish government’s pay offer and vote to take strike action in the coming months.
The NHS consultative digital ballot closes on 8 August.
UNISON report that their members are angry and feel they are being taken for granted. UNISON say the Scottish government 5% pay offer is well below the rate of inflation – which is 10% – and it is deeply unfair as it will give those at top of the pay bands a pay rise of over £5,000 per year whilst those on the lower pay bands will get nearer £1000 per year.
This ballot is launched in the midst of a staffing crisis in the NHS, staff turnover is higher than ever, waiting lists are at an all time high and the NHS is facing real challenges to recruit.
There are over 6000 nurse vacancies across Scotland. Staff report to UNISON that they are regularly left in wards working with staffing levels below minimum standards. Staff also report they are constantly worried they make mistakes, or fail to deliver basic patient care. The problems were building long before Covid, the pandemic has only exacerbated the issues.
Wilma Brown, chair of the UNISON Scotland health committee said: “NHS staff have been taken for granted, staff have endured over 10 years of real terms pay cuts only to be told by the Scottish Government that, yet again, they will have to accept a below inflation pay rise.
“NHS staff have family bills to pay, food, energy and petrol prices are rocketing. NHS staff are struggling to afford the price of fuel to get them to work. They need more than praise and platitudes from Government, they need a decent pay rise to support their families.
“A 5% pay increase across the board just doesn’t cut it and the Scottish Government need to understand how angry we are. UNISON are urging UNISON members to vote to reject this pay offer and indicate that they will take the very difficult decision to take industrial action, unless of course the Health Minister improves the offer on the table.”
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