24 April 2001
The Prime Minister has appointed Michael Blair as the new Chair of the Doctors’ and Dentists’ Pay Review Body (DDRB). The post runs for a period of three years. Mr Blair succeeds Brandon Gough who has been Chair of the DDRB since March 1993. The DDRB, which has eight members (including the Chair), is an independent body. Its role is to make recommendations to the Prime Minister, the Secretary of State for Health, the Secretary of State for Scotland and the Secretary of State for Wales on the remuneration of doctors and dentists
playing any part in the National Health Service.
Notes for Editors
1. Mr Blair (59) is a QC in independent practice. He is a member of the Competition Commission (Appeal Panel) and was General Counsel to the Board of the Financial Services Authority from 1998 -2000.
2. The Review Body’s recommendations apply to around 140,000 NHS doctors and dentists. These fall, broadly, into five groups covering the differing career branches of the professions:
(i) hospital doctors and dentists;
(ii) general medical practitioners (GMPs);
(iii) ophthalmic medical practitioners (OMPs);
(iv) general dental practitioners (GDPs); and
(v) doctors in public health medicine and in community health, and
community and public health dental staff.
3. The Government announced on December 18 2000 that it has accepted recommendations from the independent Pay Review Bodies for pay increases next year.
4. The main points of the DDRB report were:
- all NHS doctors, including junior doctors, consultants, dentists and GPs will receive a 3.9% pay increase. Taken together with a new agreement on junior doctor’s pay which came into effect on 1 December, this means that pay for an average newly qualified junior doctor will increase by between £2,738 and £3,098.
- a hospital consultant’s starting salary will rise from between £48,905 and £63,640 to between £50,810 and £66,120, while a GP’s salary will increase from £54,220 to £56,335.
5. In its response to a supplementary DDRB report on the GP’s feescale published on 9 February, the Government also announced that it was aside the feescale balancing recovery mechanism for 2001/02 which means that the average GP will be better off by £248 next year. Other action announced included a joint review with the BMA of the GP feescale payment system.
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