Top doctors win fight to keep ‘unfair’ £77k bonus
They’ll carry on topping up wages while nurses endure a pay freeze
HOSPITAL consultants have fought off a bid to strip them of bonuses worth up to £77,000 a year.
The payouts are supposed to reward excellence but go to half of senior doctors, on top of their £90,000 salaries.
The scheme costs the NHS around £ 320million a year – enough for 12,000 nurses, or 33,000 hip replacements.
Pledging reform, Jeremy Hunt has described the ‘ flawed’ arrangements as ‘disastrous’. The Health Secretary insists that performance-related pay must reflect quality and responsibility rather than time served.
But the British Medical Association took legal action to protect the bonuses, and has reached an out- of- court settlement with the Department of Health saying the payouts ‘cannot be threatened with withdrawal’. Instead, hospitals must offer consultants the chance to apply for a new or more generous annual award.
Campaigners said extending the scheme ‘ beggared belief ’ amid intense financial pressures, cutbacks and a seven-year pay freeze for nurses.
‘Paying consultants huge bonuses while leaving others locked in low pay is unfair and unsustainable,’ said Judith Jolly, the Liberal Democrats’ health spokesman.
‘ Worryingly, there remains a clear gender pay gap in the health sector. Male consultants are all too often paid more than their female counterparts.
While we cannot put a price on the importance of saving lives, we must ensure that all those who work tirelessly for the NHS are given fair pay.’
Routine operations including hip replacements are already being rationed, and patients will soon be denied cough mixture, migraine pills and heartburn remedies on prescription.
John O’Connell of the Tax Payers’ Alliance said: ‘When the NHS is struggling to provide basic services to people, it beggars belief that these unaffordable bonuses are still being given out freely, often regardless of performance.
‘The Government must take a very close look at this scheme and ensure that taxpayers’ money never gets wasted on bonuses for staff who don’t deserve them.’
Consultants have been paid big bonuses ever since the Health Service was founded in 1948.
The then health secretary, Labour’s Aneurin Bevan, reportedly admitted to ‘stuffing their mouths with gold’ to stop them switching to private hospitals.
The ‘clinical excellence awards’ are paid out to half the 46,000 consultants in the NHS, as well as to some GPs who do research.
There are 12 levels – ranging from £3,000 to £77,000 – and successful doctors receive the payments for five years, after which they can apply to have them renewed.
They are rarely withdrawn and many doctors receive them for the duration of their careers.
The system has been described as an ‘old boys club’ because the bonuses are handed out by panels of consultants who award them to their friends.
Men are much more likely to be handed the highest bonuses than women, raising concerns that the scheme fuels the gender pay gap.
A source at the British Medical Association said the deal was far better than consultants had hoped. Many had feared the awards would be scrapped altogether or, at the very least, that the top £77,000 payments would be cut.
The arrangement will anger thousands of nurses whose pay has been frozen for seven years. Their aver-
‘It’s unfair and unsustainable’
age salary is £25,000 a year. The bonuses have counted toward consultants’ pensions on top of their final salaries when they retire. Awards granted after April will not qualify for this treatment.
The agreement is expected to be announced within the next few days by the Department of Health, the BMA and NHS Employers, the body which represents hospitals. The Department of Health is still locked in talks with the BMA about overhauling other aspects of the consultants’ contract.
Officials are trying to remove the clause that lets the doctors refuse evening and weekend work.
A departmental spokesman said last night the talks had been ‘positive’ but were unlikely to reach a conclusion soon.
A BMA spokesman confirmed the doctors’ union had taken legal action and discussed an out- ofcourt settlement.
He added: ‘Clinical excellence awards are designed to recognise the exceptional contribution of doctors who find new and innovative ways of improving the quality and delivery of care, benefiting patients and saving the NHS money in the long run.’