03.12.10
£400 million doctor award scheme urgently needs reform or scrapping, says NHS Employers
The £400 million clinical excellence award scheme for doctors is out-dated, unfair and not clearly linked to the needs of today’s health service, according to new evidence from NHS Employers who are calling for urgent changes to the current scheme.
The evidence was submitted to the Doctors’ and Dentists’ Review Body and recommends that the scheme is either reformed or scrapped. It discloses that NHS organisations have significant concerns about the awards which do not always reflect individual performance or the needs of the local health service.
Doctors can be awarded up to £75,000 annually. Once awarded, payments normally continue until retirement irrespective of ongoing performance and are included as pensionable income. Dean Royles, director of NHS Employers, said: “Every penny in the NHS must be used wisely to safeguard patient care particularly at a time when difficult financial decisions have to be made. While it is essential that the very best doctors are appropriately rewarded, there is no place for a scheme that lacks transparency and fails to effectively reward the best medical practice.
“NHS organisations have told us that they feel burdened by an ineffective and unaffordable scheme that they have little control over and a revision of the scheme is urgently needed.
“The scheme either needs to be ended or significantly reformed to be managed by organisations locally as part of their overall pay and reward package.”
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