Junior doctors in Scotland have been offered a 6.5 per cent pay rise for this coming year after voting in favour of industrial action over a fortnight ago. Scotland’s health secretary Michael Matheson says he is ‘delighted’ to have reached an agreement with BMA Scotland, but doctors across the country are less enthusiastic.
In Scotland, 97 per cent of the junior doctors who voted in the BMA’s ballot did so in favour of strike action, with a high turnout of 71 per cent. They are looking for full pay restoration, which amounts to a 23.5 per cent pay increase above inflation, or an uplift of just under 35 per cent on current levels. Today’s offer falls some way short of that. First Minister Humza Yousaf counted the prevention of healthcare worker strikes during his time as health secretary a key success – but if doctors vote down the deal, a walkout on his watch seems almost certain.
Junior doctors believe that the Scottish government would benefit politically from being more generous than England with its pay offer and many hope the BMA will push for more still.
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