More pay for overworked doctors

Junior doctors will be compensated for long hours

Scotland's junior doctors are to receive extra pay for working excessive hours.

The new contract arrangements have been outlined by Scottish Health Minister Susan Deacon.

She explained that staff would get a supplement, on top of their basic salary, based on the number and intensity of hours worked.

A new pay structure will ensure that doctors' pay reflects demands of particular posts and the amount of work done at nights and weekends.

We are hopeful that this agreement will remove the perverse incentive that previously existed to force junior doctors to work extremely long hours

Dr Jim McCaul, Scottish Junior Doctors Committee

Ms Deacon said that the new arrangements, which came into effect on Friday, would reward the most hard-pressed doctors while encouraging NHS trusts to reduce hours.

Dr Jim McCaul, chairman of the Scottish Junior Doctors Committee, welcomed the move, which he believes will help improve patient care.

He said: "After 10 years of frustration in the battle to improve the hours and working condition of Scotland's junior doctors, the new contract announced today is a step forward.

"For the first time, it delivers a real incentive to NHS trust management to stop exploiting the commitment and dedication of doctors-in-training to the detriment of patient care.

Financial sense

"We are hopeful that this agreement will remove the perverse incentive that previously existed to force junior doctors to work extremely long hours."

He said that until now it had made financial sense for trusts to overwork junior doctors rather than employ more staff.

"This agreement sweeps that away and, as a result, will hopefully lead to improvements in the quality and safety of patient care," he said.

"The task ahead of us is to ensure that the agreement makes a difference at the sharp end of the NHS. "

Susan Deacon detailed the changes

Ms Deacon said the new contract was the product of extensive negotiations between the UK health departments and the Junior Doctors' Committee.

"This contract will provide a strong financial incentive for NHS trusts to reduce the hours worked by their doctors and will ensure that the more a doctor works, the more he or she is paid," she said.

She said the Scottish Executive had worked in partnership with the Scottish Junior Doctors' Committee (SJDC), Implementation Support Group (ISG) and NHS trusts to ensure the contract was implemented successfully.

And she added: "Our substantial record of investment in the NHS in Scotland - which has recently enabled us to recruit an additional 100 junior doctors - will lead to further increases in junior doctor numbers during the next three years.

"This will make a very real and positive change to junior doctors' working hours and will create a better standard of care for our patients."