The BMA would have done better to stick with the comparability argument than to plead poverty. Let’s not forget, either, that a great many of these doctors will go on to establish glittering careers in the NHS and also lucrative earnings from working in private medicine. I know status doesn’t pay the bills, but presenting all doctors as penniless is just plain misleading. And it’s not one you’ll get as a barista.Īs much as we all admire the skills of someone who can steam out a good Ristretto, there is nothing like the assurance of a career for life or the status that comes with just “being a doctor”. Admittedly, there are tax issues for those who exceed their lifetime pensions savings allowance of £1 million, but that’s not a bad problem to have. Junior doctors have an incredibly generous pension arrangement, with their employer pitching into a defined benefit scheme. To claim, as the British Medical Association (BMA) is doing, that junior doctors are earning £14 an hour or that the barista in the Pret next door to their hospital in the heart of London is paid more is a misdiagnosis.Įspecially because we shouldn’t overlook the other perks of the job beyond the immediate pay packet, either. With three to eight years of service, these particular “juniors” could be on just under £60,000, before extras. While their earnings might start at about £29,000 for a really junior doctor in England with a shiny new stethoscope trying to keep out of the way of matron, the same category also includes very experienced specialty registrars. Just how much a junior doctor earns is one of those “how long is a piece of string?” questions, because a “junior” doctor actually means every doctor that isn’t a consultant, specialised doctor, or GP. What their unions don’t want you to know is that their pay deal is already pretty generous. Well, don’t we all! The difference is that these doctors are asking for a whopping 35 per cent more from already strained government budgets.
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