How much are NHS consultants paid? How does it compare to other health service staff? Salary earning explained amid strikes

Senior NHS doctors have demonstrated again today, in their latest attempt to pressure ministers to further increase their six-figure salaries.

A new analysis suggests NHS consultants in England are among the top 2 per cent earners in the UK and are also among the highest financially paid in the profession globally.

The latest strike, a 48-hour strike that is set to bring the number of NHS appointments canceled due to staff strikes to 1 million, comes despite doctors already receiving a 6 percent pay increase from the government. .

Here MailOnline has set out how much senior doctors earn and how their income compares to other NHS staff.

consultants

Basic salary for senior doctors now stands between £93,666 and £126,281 a year, depending on experience, following a recent 6 per cent pay increase.

However, consultants can increase this amount by taking extra shifts, doing lucrative private work, and earning prizes.

For example, the average annual base salary for a full-time consultant in the year to March 2023 was £105,484. However, their median income was actually £127,000 because they made up the figure through extra work.

Health chiefs say the average consultant will now earn £134,000 a year following their 6 per cent pay increase.

On top of this huge sum, which puts them in the top two per cent of UK earners and makes them one of the highest paid senior doctors in the world, they will also be able to retire at 65 and earn an annual pension of £78,000. for the rest of his life.

young doctors

Doctors-in-training now receive up to £63,152 a year as they progress through their training, which lasts between five and ten years.

The figure depends on experience: first-year doctors earn £32,397.

His salary has increased between 8.1 and 10.3 percent this year.

However, just like Consultants, they can increase their earnings by taking extra turns.

For example, in the year to March 2023, when first-year junior doctors’ salary was £29,243 on average, their median earnings were actually £37,071.

The junior medics are also in a separate pay dispute with the number 10 and appear here on strike earlier this month.

Nurses, midwives and paramedics.

NHS pay for nurses, midwives and paramedics is set by a contract system called the Agenda for Change (AfC).

Staff under this system received a pay increase of around 5 per cent this year, worth around an extra £1,065.

Newly qualified nurses, midwives and paramedics in the NHS typically start at a minimum of £28,407 per year.

Including overtime, nurses at all experience levels earned an average of £37,000 in the year to March 2023.

For midwives this figure was £36,000 and for ambulance staff (which includes paramedics) it was £47,000.

Like other groups of personnel, this year it will increase with the entry into force of the new salary increases.

The Royal College of Nursing also staged multiple strikes over pay issues and this action took place outside St Thomas’ Hospital in London in May this year.

More than 700,000 NHS appointments have been canceled since the strikes began seven months ago. In the last five-day strike by young doctors, more than 100,000 were called off.

Hospital porters and cleaners

Like nurses, midwives and paramedics, hospital porters and cleaners are paid under the AfC contract, but are paid less.

Porters and cleaners start at an annual salary of £22,383 under the new wage agreement.

The NHS data does not include a breakdown of overall earnings for these groups of staff that incorporate additional payments such as overtime.