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The DoH has recommended a 1.5 per cent rise in its evidence to the Doctors and Dentists Review Body. However, the BMA presented its own evidence to the review body, which outlined a 4 per cent pay rise, as reported on Healthcare Republic on 18 October.

BMA Chairman, Mr James Johnson, said: ‘The Department of Health’s proposal for a pay uplift of only 1.5 per cent is an attempt to claw back the pay increases resulting from the contracts introduced for consultants and GPs in the last few years. We don't negotiate contracts in good faith for them to be whittled away over the succeeding years. Doctors are working intensively and under pressure to cut waiting times and deliver high quality services.

'They deserve a pay rise that reflects their continuing hard work, not one that erodes the value of contracts the government has agreed to.’

Karen Jennings, UNISON Head of Health, said: ‘A 1.5 per cent pay increase works out at less than 2p an hour extra for newly qualified nurses and paramedics, with only pennies extra for experienced health workers. It is also less that half the latest retail price index figure which stands at 3.6 per cent.’

Josie Irwin, RCN Head of Employment Relations, called the proposed pay rise a ‘slap in the face.’