Resident doctors accused of ‘greedy’ pay demands before Streeting talks
Resident doctors accused of ‘greedy’ pay demands before Streeting talks
www.theguardian.com
Resident doctors accused of ‘greedy’ pay demands before Streeting talks
4 comments
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I think it's a difficult sell to the public, especially when the numbers (RPI) driving the BMAs claims is flawed. I'm all for better paid doctors but they just got a pay rise 10x better than almost all other public sector workers last year and now they want the same again the next year?
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It's a difficult sell because it's unreasonable.
Doctors get paid vastly more than most of the public (I'm both the private and public sectors), including the healthcare workers whose labour supports them in their work.
Has anyone seen a rise in wages which is equivalent to the increase in inflation?
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Being accused of greed for asking for pay restoration really is on brand for this joke of a government. The "put up or shut up" attitude is disgusting, when so many workers are worse off in real terms than they were 10-15 years ago. The money is there, it's just a question of who has it. It sure as hell isn't resident doctors or other public sector workers. How much are Streeting and co earning?
This is the part where we watch government ministers & their pals in the media try to stir division amongst workers and unions. It should be seen for what it is.
Doctors will just leave the country and go elsewhere if we can't show that we value the work they do. A below inflation pay "rise" isn't going to cut it. Ditto for others.
RPI is an outdated and rarely used measure of inflation that makes it look a lot worse than it actually is. Almost everyone uses CPI or the better CPIH which factors in housing costs (rent and mortgages). Using CPI instead of RPI shows doctor pay since 2008 has actually only decreased by a relative 4.7% not the 21% that the BMA is claiming.
The BMA have picked an arbitrary date to make their comparisons with (2008) if you pick a different date you get vastly different figures. For example, over the last 10 years, resident doctor pay has increased above inflation.
Resident doctors in the UK are also on more money than almost all comporable economies (though direct comparison is difficult at best). Further, UK doctor graduates are the least likely to move abroad compared to the rest of the European Economic Area according to figures published by the BMA in 2022.