BMA Scotland defends GP pay rises

The British Medical Association (BMA) in Scotland has defended the much-publicised GP contracts that have awarded some doctors as much of ?250,000 per year after expenses.

It has argued that GPs in Scotland are not receiving salaries anywhere approaching ?250,000, saying that the average is closer to ?80,000.

Dr Mary Church, a spokesperson for the BMA in Scotland, told BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland how the new contracts were not just about wages, but to help more patients. She said: “The drive was to help patients out of hospital and that’s been achieved by this quality framework which is included in the new contract.”

She dismissed claims that some GPs earn ?250,000 as “outrageous” and added: “It’s not really possible under our contract to earn that amount of money.”

Dr Church concluded: “It has been shown that patients in a lot of polls that have been done feel that – they’re not daft, the public out there – they realise this is a sensational headline and they do value their GPs.”

The government has come under attack in recent weeks over the scale of NHS deficits and possible redundancies, caused partially by wage increases. Yesterday the health secretary, Patricia Hewitt, was slow-clapped and heckled as she addressed the Royal College of Nursing conference in Bournemouth. Last week she suggested that the NHS was having its “best year ever” thanks to low waiting lists and the absence of any winter beds crisis.

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