Salary bands settle junior doctors' pay deal dispute

The long-running battle over junior doctors' pay has been settled. Just over 79 per cent of the 14,000 junior doctors who voted in a British Medical Association referendum backed a deal negotiated with the Department of Health. Most junior doctors receive 50 per cent of their normal hourly rate for overtime, however many hours they work. The agreement moves to a system of salary bands reflecting the number and intensity of hours worked. It also says the 'new deal' limiting junior doctors' hours will be written into all junior doctors' contracts by August 2003.Trusts' tendency to 'use and abuse' junior doctors will be lessened, with incentives to cut hours, said Andrew Hobart, chair of the BMA junior doctors' committee.