Pay parity between clinical academics and their counterparts in the NHS is a vital principle that helps to ensure that higher education is an attractive place for doctors to work.  This helps to maintain the UK’s leading place in medical education and medical research.

We, therefore, welcome the announcement by UCEA (the Universities and Colleges Employers Association) of updated pay scales for medical academic trainees in England. The circular will maintain pay parity with resident doctors employed in the NHS, which is crucial to ensuring academic medicine remains a viable career.

The updated scale recognises that resident medical academic doctors employed by universities should receive the backdated uplift from 1 April 2023.  It has also been positive to see the same commitment to pay parity in UCEA’s pay circulars for the devolved nations.

Doctors undertaking academic training are the future generation of leaders in research and medical education. However, there remains a continued and steep decline in the number of medical academics which threatens the growth of the UK’s research capabilities, the ability to meet the expansion in medical student places and the UK’s world-leading role in both sectors.

The current training pathway does not sufficiently address the financial disadvantages associated with a medical academic career.  The measures deployed in England to address this (such as the academic flexible pay premium) need an urgent rethink. Academic training needs to be an attractive and financially viable career option.

However, universities must be properly funded to ensure they can meet the current costs of this pay offer and invest in the next generation of academic doctors and dentists. This will be vital in reversing the decline in our workforce. To that end, we have written to the Department for Education making the case for funding the implementation of the NHS pay awards in universities.

Jonathan Gibb is chair of the BMA joint academic trainees subcommittee