Hot on the heels of the bitter disputes concerning contractual conditions that junior doctors and the government have been ferociously locked in – and which have dominated recent news – the MedCom team had a thought: just what is the average pay that junior doctors receive?
With this niggling thought in mind, we decided to take our query UK-wide courtesy of the simple sending of a few Freedom of Information requests. And the response has been interesting.
According to the reply recently received from the Scottish government, junior doctors were estimated to receive, during the financial year 2014/15, on average, over £50,000 per year.
According to the Fire Brigades Union, competent fire fighters receive less than £30,000.
See below for full details of the junior doctors’ pay across Scotland.
What do you think?
| Estimated average pay for junior doctors1; NHSScotland; Financial year 2014/15 | ||||
| Grade | Average Pay2 | |||
| Foundation Year 1 | £36,000 | |||
| Foundation Year 2 | £45,000 | |||
| Other Doctors in Training3 | £58,000 | |||
| All junior doctors | £53,000 | |||
| – Source: Scottish Workforce Information Standard System (SWISS), 2014/15 Extract | ||||
| – This data source is not published routinely and as such is not subject to the quality controls used for official statistics. As a result, the figures shown should be taken as estimates. | ||||
| 1 – Includes medical and dental specialties. | ||||
| 2 – Average pay has been calculated by dividing the total pay (including allowances, irrespective of payroll treatment) by the total whole time equivalent for each grade. This will be different from the average pay for junior doctors if calculated on a person by person basis. The calculation also includes internal locums. Figures have been rounded to the nearest £1,000. | ||||
| 3 – Other Doctors in Training includes staff with and without a training number. These include registrar, senior registrar, specialist registrar, specialty registrar, core training, MTI, and GPST. | ||||
