Inadequate pay
rises for doctors will lower morale and do nothing to improve
recruitment and retention, according to the British Medical Association (BMA).
New contracts
are currently being
implemented for GPs and consultants which incorporate a 3.225 per cent
rise for 2004-05. But consultants who remain on the old contract will only get
a 2.5 per cent pay rise.
Dr
Paul Miller, chairman of the BMA’s Central Consultants and Specialists
Committee said the offers were insulting to doctors who work extremely hard for
patients.
Junior
doctors are to receive a pay rise of 2.7 per cent, which Simon Eccles, chairman
of the BMA’s Junior Doctors Committee, called "a kick in the teeth for the
thousands of junior doctors who work long and anti-social hours to help keep
the NHS afloat".
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