GP’s pay rise not enough to retain salaried GPs and other practice staff

The government announced that GP’s and all other practice staff will receive a 6% pay rise as recommended by the independent pay review body.

The pay rise aims to address the recruitment and retention issues in the NHS. Recently, the NHS has struggled with recruitment and retention of GP staff which has led to a staff shortage. In turn, this has increased the workload and pressure on the remaining staff who have been awarded with a pay rise.

6% pay rise is not enough to retain GP staff

A recent GPonline poll of 316 GPs has discovered that only 13% of GPs believe that the pay award fully funded by the government will help with the retention of staff and salaried GPs. 65% said the rise was insufficient and 22% were unsure.

GPs believe that this pay rise will not prevent staff from leaving their current role, especially staff in their admin team. Admin staff have been under immense pressure and have the option to earn more money in a lower skilled which could also be less stressful role.

GP Partners

Furthermore, the poll found that only 10% of practices had actually awarded this pay increase to their staff so far. The government have announced that the GP contract will be amended to cover the cost of the pay rise but it is still unclear how this will work in practice.

GP partners have said in the poll that they are currently unable to increase their staff’s salary because they had not received the additional funding, even though their staff are now expecting a pay rise imminently.

The British Medical Association is currently in talks with NHS England regarding specific details about how the 6% pay rise will be calculated and funded. It is thought that the pay rise will be implemented in the autumn. Until then it is recommended that practices explain to their staff that they have not yet received the funding and the pay rise will be implemented when they do.

Healthcare Partner at Hawsons, Scott Sanderson commented:

“Whilst the announcements on funding increases of 6% are welcomed, in reality this uplift is still behind economic and wages inflation. As ever, announcements from government always take time to work their way through to Practices on the front line and it is not an overnight pay rise for staff – which is often how it is portrayed in the media and creates an unrealistic expectation for many.”