Junior doctors in Scotland are getting paid the same as sandwich shop baristas with many taking on second jobs to get by, their union has warned.
Even though they take life or death decisions every day some junior doctors are paid just over £27,500 a year - which works out at £14 an hour - the same as some staff at sandwich shop Pret a Manger.
A new survey by doctors union the BMA shows more than 55 per cent of junior doctors have taken on extra shifts to help pay their bills.
And a fifth of those surveyed said they have experienced difficulties paying their rent or mortgage in the past year.
BMA chiefs also warned that only 15 per cent say they are sure they will stay in the UK and work for the NHS long term.
Dr Chris Smith, chair of BMA’s Scottish Junior Doctors Committee, has demanded a meeting with Scottish health secretary Humza Yousaf to thrash out a better pay rise for young medics.
He said: “These figures should be extremely worrying for all those who rely on our NHS and it is clear that junior doctors, which make up a large and crucial part of the workforce in Scotland, have simply had enough.
“Years of below inflation pay ‘uplifts’ coupled with rising costs of living have left junior doctors feeling under appreciated, undervalued and demoralised. In real terms 23.5 per cent of our pay has been cut since 2008.
“Many junior doctors already work around the clock and being forced to take on a second job or additional shifts will only further increase the risk of burnout and exhaustion – leading to safety concerns not only for them but for their patients too.”
Smith, a junior doctor in Edinburgh in just his second year out of university, continued: “Junior doctors are the first people you see in A & E, the person looking after you on the ward, prescribing your drugs or coming to examine you.
“They are the ones you see in follow up clinics and when you are discharged it will be the junior doctor who sorts out all the documentation.
“We play a massive role in the entire process of being admitted and discharged from hospital and we are also in GP surgeries.
“At the hospital I work in if there is a cardiac arrest I am the doctor who will lead the cardiac arrest team. So right from the beginning you are making these huge decisions, what drugs people get, what examinations and investigations people get. In a life or death situation it is a junior doctor making the decisions which might just save your life.”
While junior doctors on the NHS are contracted for 40 hours a week they often work up to 60 hours or more a week.
They were offered a 4.5 per cent pay rise in the most recent offer but Smith claims that is not enough as inflation will swallow that increase.
He said: “That is a totally inadequate response and not enough to hold off our strike ballot at the end of the month.
“The offer is nearly an eight per cent pay cut in real terms or the equivalent of working three and a half weeks free, compared to last year because of the economic situation that the Scottish Government have not done enough to mitigate.”
The doctors are looking for a rise over five years of around 30 per cent which would restore the pay deficit from inflation.
Labour’s health spokeswoman Jackie Baillie said junior docs were “critical to the wellbeing of the NHS”.
She said: “They work incredibly hard, long hours supporting patients and other clinical staff. To treat them this way means we will lose them. We need to care for the people who care for us.
“Frankly for the Health Secretary to refuse to meet them is outrageous.”
Earlier this week Pret A Manger bosses announced their third pay rise in 12 months, allowing staff to earn up to £14.10 per hour based on location and experience.
Dr Rachel Clarke, palliative care doctor and writer, received 1.3 million views on her Tweet comparing the Pret pay rise to NHS junior doctor wages which work out at £14.13 an hour.
Health Secretary Humza Yousaf insisted he had already written offering to meet with Dr Smith but said when they last met he made clear the rise they are calling for is “simply unaffordable”.
He stated: “I recognise the importance of Junior Doctors to NHS Scotland and the important work they contribute to the NHS.
“Junior Doctors in Scotland have already been awarded a 4.5 per cent pay uplift for 2022/23 recommended by the independent Doctors and Dentist Pay Review Body.
“I am disappointed BMA Scotland is planning to ballot junior doctors on industrial action, which would be in no-one’s interests.”
He said he had written to the DDRB and asking them to consider a separate and specific recommendation for junior doctor pay in 2023.
He continued: “I have been very open about the real fiscal challenges we face, have explored all options for 2022/23 and there’s no additional money for pay without cutting funding to the NHS and other public services.”
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