Doctor's strike - what do they actually get paid?

[MageQueen]

I see doctors are striking again. They want a 29% increase, after 5.5% the last two years and the approx 20% they got after the last strike.

I'm a bit confused. What do they actually earn?

Broadly, I'm in favour of NHS doctors being paid a good wage but I think they lost me when they say that salaries need to be equivalent to 2008. I mean, I don't disagree, but they're not the only ones whose pay is significantly lower in real terms and with all due respect, unlike most of us, they've at least had SOME improvements? I wouldn't want to be a nurse, a retail worker, a childminder etc at this point becuase as far as I can tell, pay has barely moved in 10 years even as cost of living has spiralled.

But then, I don't know what they earn so for all I know, they're on very low wages considering the responsibility we put on them.

They certainly don’t, as they were asking me questions about it, when I don’t know how the medication works.

You know or should know an awful lot of these doctors also hold private practice services for which they charge a fortune then they jump back into the NHS and refer the patients back to the NHS that to me is disgraceful basically these doctors are getting 2 salaries - never seen a poor one yet - driving expensive cars !!!

It’s true

GP’s are year on year seeing more patients and now a significantly higher number than pre Covid

Currently a junior doctor on year 1 gets paid £18.62 an hour with a 4% uplift coming in. That's over £38,000 a year basic on year 1. They also get around a 37% increase for night hours, weekends and on call days. As someone stated above doctors also often do private work where they make ridiculous amounts a day.

It does make you wonder why they feel the need to strike when it's supposed to be about the people they want to help? I think personally no emergency workers should be allowed to strike. Police can't for example. Police don't get paid as much until I believe their 6th year, aren't allowed to have second roles /private work in a similar sector and are not allowed to strike for pay rises. They may not study as long as a doctor but they do have to attain a degree which takes 3 years to gain and have to complete portfolio and work assessments as student officers, are far more likely to be assaulted/killed in the line of duty.

I wonder if the government agreed to give these doctors a pay rise but legislated they could not do any private work, if they would still be happy. They are getting a bite of the cherry and still complaining. They moan about student fees etc but these are easy enough for them to pay off when they are fully fledged because they are paid a ridiculous amount.

Junior doctors don’t do private work. Consultants do.

Actually a Junior doctor in year 2 can do private work in the UK if they have full GMC registration which is automatically applied for at the end of Y1. 👍

Incredibly rare as almost impossible to get insurance. After F2 they are focusing on getting a specialty training post.

No one is going to pay to see a junior Dr, if your going private you want the consultant.

@MageQueen its also whats costs they have for the area they work in, people seem to think eg x£ is lots but factor in costs for the area and then its not

Broadly speaking I’m quite right leaning, but I trend left on issues of health and education. Simply put the value doctors, nurses, paramedics and teachers give is colossal.

I look at it this way, if everything was all privately funded the last things I’d scrimp on is my family’s health or my children’s education (although I’m beginning to think in the wake of recent global instability an eye needs to be cast over defense spending).

We have an incredibly cheap health system when ranked against other developed economies. Cheap, fast and quality. You can pick two. Personally I’d prefer it was speedy and great quality.

Another mill around the NHS’s neck is the sheer debt some parts of it are. The tories opened the possibility of leveraging NHS buildings for mortgages to make up for spending shortfalls back in the 90’s. The practice of which New Labour absolutely went nuts with and now it’s a massive mess. We are rapidly approaching that point for where the bills coming due for how well we had it in the past. I hope people are ready.

Not the point of the thread but for interest Christian Jessen the ‘tv doctor’ appears to have practiced privately on Harley Street and is a junior doctor and certainly not a consultant. He never qualified in a speciality or completed training. Plenty of ‘junior doctors’ doing the same.

Yes but I wouldn’t let Christian Jessen treat my dog never mind my family! I suspect a lot of private patients assume their Dr is a Consultant, unless they are specifically seeking a private GP.

act very few doctors do private work and their overheads are massive . My DH is a consultant and very few of his colleagues do any private work . DH does 12 PAs ( half days - including 48 hour weekends ) a week as his specialty is very short stagger and he wouldn’t have the energy or the time to do anything else .

You think £38k is good pay for someone after at least 6 years of study? And people smart enough that they could have gone into a top law/bank/hedge fund and earn £100k straight out of uni?
you mad?

You should join a union and go on strike then. Nobody is stopping you. Just because you are seemingly happy to earn less year on year, doesn’t mean that everyone else should be forced to do the same.

"6 years of study" in medicine will, in most cases, take you to F2 and a guaranteed salary of £55k.

A non law degree, followed by the PGDL conversion to law, and the LPC, takes the same length of time with only a 1 in 6 chance of ending up with a training contract, the salary for which varies between £25k to (at a Magic Circle law firm) £56k.

Is who mad?

6 years study takes you to the start of F1. 8 years to rhe end of F2.

I said 6 years of study in "most cases" - most medical degrees are 5 years.

The salary is £55k at the start of F2 after 6 years.

8 years takes them into CT and £70k.

Completely depends on the contract. In Wales, or on the 2002 contract in England, you don’t hit £55k until you are year 7 post grad, so 12 years total training to get there. You don’t get £70k until you hit consultant (which is more than £70k starting salary nowadays)

It depends only on what was in their P60s at the end of the year. F1s don't get paid 75p an hour, or less than a lollipop lady, or whatever the BMA would have you believe. In England in the 12 months to Aug 2025, F1s were paid on average £45,754.

(F2s - 1 year "post grad" - were paid £55,383; Core trainees £70,942; and Consultants were paid £147,806.)

I don't understand why anyone would invent rubbish about their pay when NHS England provides figures showing what they have actually been paid. Can you explain this tendency?

They earn approx £40k-£76k depending on experience.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn0qyl4ljjko

Close but no coconut.