Senior doctors have accepted a pay offer, ending a year-long dispute with the Government.
Consultants who are members of the British Medical Association (BMA) and the Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association (HCSA) have accepted a new deal, it was announced on Friday.
Some 83 per cent of those who voted in a three-week referendum voted in favour of greenlighting the offer.
Amoung other changes, accepted offer includes a 2.85 per cent (£3,000) uplift for those who have been consultants between four and seven years, who under the original offer received no additional uplift, said the BMA.
The offer is in addition to the 6 per cent awarded during the DDRB process last summer.
The deal will mean the review body “can no longer ignore the historical losses that doctors have suffered or the The”, the BMA said.
Consultants have taken strike action over the past year, adding to the NHS waiting list which has also been affected by the junior doctors' dispute, which remains unresolved.
Committee chair Vishal Sharma said the agreement is “the end of the beginning’ in consultants” efforts to restore their pay to 2008 levels.
He went on: “The last year has seen consultants take unprecedented strike action in our fight to address our concerns about pay and how the supposedly independent pay review process was operating.
"After years of repeated real-terms pay cuts, caused by Government interference and a failure of the pay review process, consultants have spoken and now clearly feel that this offer is enough of a first step to address our concerns to end the current dispute.
"However, it's now imperative that the DDRB utilises its independence to restore doctors' pay and prevent any further disputes from arising.
"We've reached this point not just through our tough negotiations with the Government, but thanks to the resolve of consultants, who took the difficult decision to strike, and did so safely and effectively, on multiple occasions, sending a clear message that they would not back down.
"At the heart of this dispute was our concern for patients and the future sustainability of the NHS. Without valuing doctors, we lose them. Without doctors, we have no NHS and patients suffer.
After months of unprecedented industrial action and campaigning, months of negotiations, and weeks of voting by BMA members, today we can announce that the latest Government offer on pay and DDRB reform for consultants in England has been accepted.https://t.co/Rq4seoH752 pic.twitter.com/FJwk2M589t
— BMA Consultants (@BMA_Consultants) April 5, 2024
"But the fight is not yet over. This is only the end of the beginning, and we have some way to go before the pay consultants have lost over the last 15 years has been restored. Therefore, all eyes will be on this year's pay review round, recommendations from the DDRB and response from the Government."
Members of the Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association (HCSA) also voted - by 83 per cent - to accept the offer.
President Dr Naru Narayanan said: "Our members' resilience and courage has seen them secure long overdue improvements to pay.
"This is the best deal available right now and a step firmly in the right direction.
"We will continue to ensure that consultants' enormous contribution to the NHS is properly recognised. This will include holding the Government to account on the implementation of reforms to the pay review body.
"It is now time for the Government to step up and make our junior and SAS doctor colleagues fair pay offers."
Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said: "NHS leaders will breathe a sigh of relief to know that there will be no further damaging industrial action from NHS consultants for the foreseeable future.
"The health service relies heavily on its consultant workforce and these professionals have helped to keep the most life-critical services afloat including over the difficult winter period and the recent junior doctors' walkouts.
"But the potential for further junior doctor strikes looms large, which could lead to more operations and appointments being cancelled and place more pressure on already stretched services.
"While NHS organisations have worked tirelessly to fill rota gaps and keep patients safe, more than 1.4 million appointments and operations have been cancelled over the last year of industrial action, with even more patients joining waiting lists.
"This agreement between the BMA consultant committee and Government shows that a sensible middle ground can be reached through negotiations, and we urge the BMA junior doctors' committee and Government to quickly re-enter negotiations to reach a similar agreement to stop further damaging strike action by junior doctors."
