Revealed: Striking NHS consultants on £134,000-a-year are among top earning doctors in the world, analysis shows

Striking NHS consultants are among the top earning doctors in the world and the highest paid workers in the UK, analysis shows.

Senior doctors in England, who today launched a 48-hour strike, have higher pay than their counterparts in New Zealand, Spain and France, after salaries are adjusted for the cost of living in each country.

The analysis, by thinktank the Nuffield Trust, also found that consultants — who can retire at 65 on a pension of £78,000 a year — are in the top two per cent of UK earners.

It comes as consultants, who earn £134,000 on average, staged walkouts from 7am this morning as part of their ongoing dispute with No10 over pay — despite being told that their 6 per cent pay rise is a ‘final offer’. 

Medical unions have repeatedly warned years of below inflation increases are driving UK medics to take up jobs overseas.

Analysis by the Nuffield trust found NHS consultants in England were among the top earners in the profession globally

Medical consultant members of the British Medical Association (BMA) on the picket line outside University College London hospital on August 24, 2023

NHS consultants striking outside University College London hospital on August 24, 2023

Medical consultant members of the British Medical Association on the picket line outside Bristol Royal Infirmary on August 24, 2023

However, the Nuffield Trust found that consultants in England aren’t that poor off compared to other countries. 

They found NHS consultants earned a salary worth £121,226 a year, the seventh highest pay packet compared to the 31 countries analysed.

While the medics actually earn £134,000 in England, on average, the analysis reflects average annual salary after it has been adjusted for the cost of living per country.

Medics in Luxemburg were the most well-off, taking home the equivalent of £173,215, under the same metric.

Other nations that beat England’s salary offering included South Korea (£150,344), the Netherlands (£139,789), Ireland (£137,182) and Germany (£136,796).

However, senior medics in nations like New Zealand (£115,471), Denmark (£109,896), and Belgium (£102,872) made less. 

The Nuffield Trust said the figures needed to be treated with caution, as information on earnings in some countries were ‘patchy’ with data unavailable for places like the US and Australia which are actively poaching UK medics.

However, the Government has denied that UK-trained medics are ‘fleeing’ abroad to work. It said one in 20 medics no longer working in the UK after completing their foundation training.

The British Medical Association (BMA), the union behind the consultants’ strike, called the analysis ‘unhelpful’.   

Dr Vishal Sharma, BMA consultants committee chair, said: ‘We’d agree with the Nuffield Trust that comparing pay in different countries is complicated, and therefore the comparisons that they’ve made shouldn’t be used to draw sweeping conclusions.

‘It’s convenient that the Nuffield Trust has not included Australia, Canada or the United States in their analysis, which we know are the top destinations for UK-trained doctors who leave to work overseas.

‘It also ignores Middle Eastern countries that are targeting UK doctors with lucrative job offers there.’

He added that pay was not the only factor for medics deciding to go abroad with other factors also playing a role. 

‘When looking at the reasons why doctors choose to go abroad it’s also important to also look at the different working conditions, work-life balance and the way consultants are supported, respected and valued as senior clinical leaders — all of which have been diminished in England in recent years,’ he said. 

Another part of the Nuffield Trust analysis found consultants are in the top two per cent of incomes in the UK.

And this is before lucrative private work  — which some specialist consultants do in addition to their NHS employment — was taken into account. 

Latest health service figures for 2022 show the average annual basic pay for full-time equivalent consultants now stands at £104,357 (top left graphic). However, the same data shows this extends to £126,125 per year, with their base wages topped up through overtime, medical awards and geographic allowances (bottom right chart)

More than 700,000 NHS appointments have been cancelled since strikes began seven months ago. In the latest five-day walkout by junior doctors, more than 100,000 were called off

England’s backlog, for procedures like hip and knee replacements, now stands at 7.6million, official figures revealed yesterday. It means roughly one in seven people across the country are currently stuck in the system awaiting care. More than 380,000 patients have gone a year without being treated, often in agony

The figures reflect the pay for average consultants. Some of the top earning senior medics in the NHS can earn close to £500,000 a year, with one in 10 earning more than Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. 

The analysis comes as the NHS braced for another wave of disruption as consultants staged their latest industrial action ahead of the upcoming bank holiday.

Medics have downed tools today for 48-hours a move predicted to cause a ‘massive headache’ for hospitals, with staff numbers already depleted due to staff holidays.

This industrial action, the latest to hit the beleaguered NHS, means the number of cancelled appointments due to strikes is set to reach the ‘grim milestone’ of 1million.   

NHS Providers chief executive Sir Julian Hartley said the NHS cannot allow disruption caused by strikes ‘to become business as usual.

Speaking on Times Radio, he said: ‘We are getting reports that there is increasing frustration from patients about care being disrupted, and it really is having a big impact in the sense that we’ve already seen nearly a million patient appointments, procedures, operations, disrupted as a consequence of strike action.

‘We can’t allow it to become business as usual because the NHS is really attempting to recover the waiting times from the impact of Covid, bear down on those waiting times, get ready for a very busy, challenging winter, putting in place new facilities and services for patients.

Health Secretary Steve Barclay said he was ‘disappointed’ consultants had gone ahead with their action, which comes despite a 6 per cent pay rise

Striking UK medics are being actively recruited by countries like Australia even deploying billboards directly to picket lines earlier this year

While Australia topped the list for both destinations other countries like the US and the United Arab Emirates are also of interest for UK medics looking for greener pastures 

‘All of these things are obviously hugely disrupted by ongoing strike action, which is why we do need to see a resolution to this, otherwise we risk just continuing this really quite dispiriting series of strikes that have a real impact on patients but also on staff on the NHS, and indeed on finances — the cost of strikes to date around £1 billion — so for all those reasons we’ve got to see the back of these strikes.’

The BMA has already announced further consultants strike action, with senior medics due to return to the picket lines on September 19 and 20 and then again on October 2, 3 and 4.

Union officials said it was with ‘heavy hearts’ that consultants are resorting to downing tools, stating it is 150 days since the Health Secretary Steve Barclay last met with them.

On his part, Mr Barclay said he was ‘disappointed’ consultants had gone ahead with their action despite a 6 per cent pay rise.

Consultants have also benefited from recent changes to pension rules, he said, and could expect to retire at 65 on an income in excess of £78,000 a year, adding that ‘this pay award is final’.

The BMA says consultants pay has been cut in real terms since 2008 and is calling for pay restoration and reform of the pay review body that advises ministers on salary increases.