A pay offer for resident doctors this year will help make medicine a more attractive career in Scotland – but there is still more work to be done, BMA Scotland said today.

The offer represents a total uplift to the base salary of 11% - comprising of an initial 8.5% from 1 April 2024, with an additional compounding 2.3% increase from 1 October, which will be applied to the revised April pay scale. 

It will now be put to members with the recommendation they vote to accept following an emergency meeting of the Scottish Resident Doctors Committee (SRDC).

Committee chair Dr Chris Smith said,

“Our campaign towards full pay restoration and righting years of pay erosion is a vital step towards keeping the doctors we need in Scotland and securing the future of the health service, for the good of the NHS and patients.

“We believe this offer, which has been reached after months of negotiations, not only represents the best possible increase that we will achieve this year, but is satisfactory progress on our journey toward that goal.

“This offer is the first of our three-year agreement with the Scottish Government which was secured last summer after resident doctors had to take the difficult step of voting for strike action. It means that we are now virtually halfway to our overall goal of pay restoration. 

“It also ensures that Scotland remains competitive with pay for resident doctors in other parts of the UK and that we reduce the risk of losing doctors to other countries.

“However, while we are recommending this offer to members there is still significant work to be done and we are clear that achieving full pay restoration for Scottish resident doctors will be the only fair, just, and acceptable outcome from the next two years of pay negotiations.

“In the long term, the only way we can ever hope to put our NHS on a more sustainable footing is to invest in the medical workforce, for the benefit of both doctors and patients.”  

Notes to editors

BMA Scotland expects the referendum to open on 28 October 2024– a final result should be announced late November. 

The term resident doctors was introduced in September to replace the name of junior doctors.

The BMA is a professional association and trade union representing and negotiating on behalf of all doctors in the UK. A leading voice advocating for outstanding health care and a healthy population. An association providing members with excellent individual services and support throughout their lives.