Multi-million-pound bonuses for doctors 'should be axed'

Published on Wednesday 6 January 2010 21:34

A MULTI-million-pound bonus scheme for top UK doctors should be scrapped, Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon said yesterday.

She has written to Prime Minister Gordon Brown calling for the distinction awards for consultants, which cost 28 million every year in Scotland, to be replaced by a system which rewards staff across the NHS.

The Scottish Government wants to freeze next year's budget for the awards, which have been in place since the foundation of the NHS 60 years ago.

Ms Sturgeon said: "The NHS now works in very different ways, with a completely different skill mix from that of the past.

"It is important that we recognise and reward the high level of talent that we have in the workforce but that we do so in a fair and cost-effective way.

"The existing schemes are outdated and do little to create a drive for excellence throughout the clinical teams we have now and which we would wish to encourage further. They are, therefore, in need of change."

The awards costs more than 350m across the Scotland, England and Wales every year.

Ms Sturgeon has written to her counterparts in England, Wales and Northern Ireland as she thinks the issue should be approached on a "four-country basis" to avoid one country gaining an advantage over another in recruiting consultants.

"In order to signal this direction of travel, I want to see the Budget frozen in cash terms for the year ahead.

"We are in a difficult financial climate at present and the pay of already highly paid NHS staff should not be increased."

About half of consultants in Scotland retire when they get paid the awards, which can be as much as 75,000.