U-turn over ban on private work for new doctors

Britain's 26,000 hospital consultants were offered pay rises of more than 20 per cent yesterday after the Government made a key concession during negotiations on a new NHS contract.

Alan Milburn, the Secretary of State for Health, abandoned plans to ban newly qualified consultants from private work for seven years after warnings that it would damage recruitment.

The deal, agreed by the British Medical Association and the Department of Health, means some top-flight consultants could be earning more than £150,000 a year from the NHS. If consultants accept, their basic salary scale will range from at least £63,000 to £85,250 a year, depending on seniority, compared with the present rates of £52,640 to £68,505.

This does not take into account merit awards, which mean the senior 324 doctors receive an extra £66,000 a year, more than 1,000 get £48,000 and another 2,500 get £27,400. About one-third of the consultant workforce also receive bonuses, called discretionary payments, which take their salaries above the basic scale.

Dr Peter Hawker, the BMA negotiator, said most consultants would be 20 to 25 per cent better off under the new contract, which is the first major renegotiation since 1948. "Consultants are the most highly trained and experienced professionals in our hospitals with unique skills that need to be properly valued. The proposed boost to their salaries is long overdue. The NHS is still getting a bargain."

He said salaries in excess of £90,000 by 2005 for the most senior doctors would give them a "clear incentive to stay in the NHS" at a time of severe shortages.

The problem has forced Mr Milburn to look overseas to recruit more hospital doctors. But Dr Hawker warned: "It will be eight or nine years before we see a major expansion in the number of consultants and the workforce is exhausted and nearing burnout."

The contract introduces a 40-hour core working week, with more money for "on-call" duties, and for the first time requires consultants to fulfil their obligations to the NHS before private work.