Anger at Tory plans for NHS pay deals

DOCTORS and nurses would be paid less in the North than in the South under shock Conservative plans, it was claimed.

The idea sparked outrage from local doctors’ leader Dr Kailash Chand, who said the greatest sufferers would be Northern patients.

And he said if anything the split should be the other way round, with the poor health record of people in the North warranting more resources than for healthier Southern patients.

Calling for a rethink by the Tories, Dr Chand, secretary of West Pennine Local Medical Committee, which covers Oldham, and North-West member of the BMA’s national council, added: “This suggestion is something I would be very critical of. Politicians should not be pennywise and pound foolish.”

The Government and union leaders raised the alarm over a Tory move to set NHS pay according to “what is necessary to recruit, retain and motivate the staff and what is affordable for local healthcare providers”.

They said the comment, by Conservative health spokesman Andrew Lansley, paved the way for an end to nationally-set pay rates — and lower earnings in the North, where staff shortages were less likely.

They claimed doctors and nurses would be tempted to desert hospitals in the North if they were offered higher salaries in London and the South-East.

Health Secretary Andy Burnham said: “Andrew Lansley may think it’s acceptable to pay nurses in the North less than those in the South, but I don’t. National pay agreements are not only fair to all, they also bring real stability to the NHS.”

The message was echoed by Unison, the public service union, which warned it harked back to Conservative policy under John Major, when local pay bargaining was “an expensive waste of time”.

Karen Jennings, the union’s head of health, said: “Staff in short supply would go to the highest bidder and essential staff would be undervalued. We have a pay system in the NHS which delivers equal pay.”

She said the independent pay review body — which currently recommends salary changes — already takes into account recruitment and retention issues.

The row flared up after Mr Lansley hinted at a future pay freeze for doctors and nurses by ruling out “inflationary staff costs”.

However, an aide also revealed that the Conservatives would allow NHS employers to agree pay deals, either working together or individually — suggesting competition between hospitals.

He said: “Employers could decide to do it locally, that’s possible. But we don’t think it will lead to hospitals cutting pay in some areas, because they want to get, and keep, the best people.”