BMA Northern Ireland met with the health minister today to discuss the pay award for 2024/25. In July 2024 the Doctors’ and Dentists’ Pay Review Body (DDRB) recommended an uplift of 6% for all doctors. This has already been applied in the rest of the UK. 

Dr Alan Stout, BMA NI Council chair, said: “At our meeting today the Minister informed us that he is not in a position to make the full pay award. On behalf of all doctors in Northern Ireland, I made it clear this was totally unacceptable. I will now meet with the chairs of all the BMA branch of practice committees in Northern Ireland to seek their views on how to proceed.  

“The scale of anger and outrage I have been hearing over the course of the last week is unprecedented. Doctors here are totally disillusioned with the Department of Health and its attitude towards doctors’ pay. They seem to believe that by paying us less than counterparts in the rest of the UK, it will somehow motivate us to work harder to address the chaos our health system is in. 

“Without staff, our health service cannot function. It really is time to stop this cycle of doctors here constantly playing catch-up with the rest of the UK on pay. Pay awards need to be built into the financial planning the Department undertakes, so they are not constantly caught by surprise at the notion staff will get a pay rise. 

“Over the summer, consultants agreed a new contract with the Department. Resident doctors are currently in negotiations, as are SAS doctors. All of these talks were entered into with the belief that DDRB would be paid as recommended. Today’s news that the fully backdated DDRB uplift for this year may not be forthcoming, undermines all that work and creates a total lack of trust that the Department will uphold any contract that is negotiated and agreed.”