§ Mr. NorrisTo ask the Prime Minister if he has yet received the supplementary report from the Doctors and Dentists Review Body on pay for out-of-hours work for junior doctors.
§ The Prime MinisterThis report has been published today and copies are in the Vote Office. I am grateful to the review body for the work they have put into preparing it.
The report recommends new rates of pay for out of hours working by hospital doctors and dentists in training, following the agreement reached earlier this year which introduced new working arrangements and set limits on contracted hours of duty for such staff.
The recommended rates of pay are:—
- 100 per cent. of the basic rate for full shift working
- 70 per cent. of the basic rate for partial shift working
- 50 per cent. of the basic rate for on call rota working
The recommendations, which arise from a major restructuring of working arrangements, are estimated to increase the paybill for hospital doctors and dentists in training by 5.8 per cent., given certain assumptions about the proportion of staff who will be contracted under each working pattern.
The Government have decided to accept these recommendations and we shall seek to implement them as soon as possible in order to help to deliver our objective of reducing the hours of work of hospital doctors and dentists in training. The costs of the award will be met by health authorities and boards from the resources which we have made available to them this year and which we shall be making available to them in future years.