Nearly 700 doctors could leave the Welsh NHS on the back of the Welsh Government's 4.5% pay offer, a union has warned. The British Medical Association Cymru carried out a survey in which more than half (52%) of the 1,397 respondents said they are now more likely to walk away from their jobs as a result of the below-inflation pay rise, while 79% said the award has further decreased morale.
In July Health Minister Eluned Morgan agreed the recommendations of the Doctors' and Dentists' Review Body (DDRB) to increase pay by 4.5% for junior doctors, consultants, GPs and dentists employed directly by health boards. But the BMA said the announcement "further demoralised the workforce on which they so heavily rely upon".
In the survey, doctors also warned that the NHS is "close to collapse", with an overwhelming number of respondents admitting they were exhausted and burnt out. Dr Iona Collins, chair of the BMA’s Welsh Council, said the survey findings resonate with what she is hearing from colleagues across Wales.
