BMA Cymru Wales responds to the Welsh Government’s announcement that the recommendations from the Review Body on Doctors' and Dentists' Remuneration (DDRB) will be accepted in full for the 24/25 pay award.

Dr Oba Babs-Osibodu and Dr Peter Fahey co-chairs of the BMA’s Welsh Junior Doctors Committee said:

“Today’s announcement to honour the recommendation of a 6% pay award for junior doctors in Wales for the 24/25 financial year, plus a consolidated uplift of £1,000 for each pay point, is another step in the right direction to better valuing doctors and restoring our pay. This means that junior doctors in Wales will receive a pay rise of between approximately 7.6% and 9.3% from 1 April this year.

“Whilst we will continue to fight for full pay restoration to recover the years of real terms pay cuts, today’s award does provide some further reversal of that erosion.

“At the start of the year, our members made their feelings clear by taking industrial action to secure a fairer deal for the profession. We listened to and acted on their concerns then, and we will continue to do so.

“That’s why we’re encouraging our members to engage with our next survey to gauge their views on this pay announcement, as well as to better understand the experiences of doctors working across Wales”

Dr Stephen Kelly, chair of the BMA’s Welsh Consultants Committee said:

“Earlier this year our members voted to take industrial action over their pay after they were awarded another below-inflation pay award and less than the DDRB recommendation for the 23/24 financial year.

“After years of being undervalued for our service, doctors made this tough decision to help achieve a fairer deal to retain and attract experienced doctors to work in Wales.

“Thanks to weeks of negotiations with the Welsh Government we were able to reach a fairer settlement, and whilst it didn’t fully restore the real terms pay lost over the last 15 years, today’s announcement of a 6% pay uplift brings us another step closer to achieving this goal.

“We will continue to strive for full pay restoration to ensure doctors in Wales are paid fairly for their service, and in the meantime, we will consult our members to gather their views on pay and conditions”

 Dr Ali Nazir, chair of the BMA's Welsh Specialist, Associate Specialist and Specialty Doctor Committee said:

“We welcome the decision by the Welsh Government to accept the DDRB’s recommendations on this year's pay award which goes some way to feeling our hard work is valued.

“For too long doctors’ sacrifices were taken for granted with below-inflation pay awards and we will continue to work towards achieving full pay restoration for SAS doctors in Wales, some of whom have experienced pay cuts of almost a third in real terms.

“We will now consult with our members to gauge their views and experiences which will inform our next steps” Dr Gareth Oelmann, chair of BMA Cymru Wales GP committee added:

“It is encouraging to see Welsh Government’s acceptance of the DDRB’s above inflation pay recommendation, unlike the previous year. Whilst we welcome this move for salaried and contractor GPs it cannot be realised until we begin the negotiations for the GMS (general medical services) contract for the 24/25 financial year, which Welsh Government has delayed.

“Despite the fairer settlements reached for doctors working in secondary care for 2023/24, we have a long way to go to fix GP pay and resource restoration into general practice. This pay award will not wholly address those long-standing issues. For far too long general practice has been taken for granted.

“Since 2012 100 surgeries have had to close their doors because funding has not fairly matched rising costs to keep practices running. As was recognised by the DDRB in their report, recent uplifts to the value of the GP contract haven’t been sufficient in terms of expenses to realise the recommendations on GP pay.

“We have called on the Welsh Government to urgently address the crisis in general practice by securing a mandate to allow for GMS (general medical services) contract negotiations to start without any further delays.

“GMS practices have already had to absorb super-inflationary wage costs arising from statutory minimum wage increases, and their financial situation is precarious. We have already informed the First Minister that we are actively evaluating all options in the event of a dispute”

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