Concerns have been raised that junior doctors in Wales could stage a walk out over plans to withdraw their free accommodation entitlement.
The British Medical Association (BMA) requested urgent talks with NHS bosses yesterday, amid fears that debt-ridden junior doctors could face a pay cut and lose their right to live on hospital premises free of charge.
A doctor's entitlement to accommodation is worth an estimated £4,800 a year. The BMA argues that removing this perk of the job and recent sub-inflation pay awards will leave the average junior doctor facing a 20% pay cut.
The junior doctor's committee of the BMA is particularly angered by the Government's refusal to compensate doctors for their loss of accommodation.
Committee chairman, Dr Ram Moorthy, said: "Hospital accommodation was often of a low standard but it was one of the few benefits of working as a junior doctor. Its removal comes at a time when medical students’ debts are growing and junior doctors’ pay packets are shrinking.
"Despite having lost the accommodation for next year, when we requested that junior doctors should be compensated, the Government refused to accept that.
"We’ve gone to the NHS employers to ask for negotiations – to get a rise in salary to compensate for the loss of accommodation."
A spokesman for the Welsh Assembly Government said: "The provision of free accommodation has not been withdrawn from all junior doctors. Doctors in all grades continue to be provided with accommodation at no charge if they are required to live on the hospital site.
"Following consultation with the BMA and other stakeholders, it was decided that the need for all first year trainees to live on site was unnecessary either from a training or service perspective. Other doctors and staff groups are treated exactly the same. In the past many junior doctors did not take up the offer of free accommodation anyway.
"However, we are encouraging trusts to maintain existing contractual arrangements with their junior doctors to provide accommodation at no charge until August 1 to help them complete their rotations. Trusts can also still provide accommodation for free beyond that if they choose."
Negotiations continue between the BMA and NHS employers.
The British Medical Association (BMA) requested urgent talks with NHS bosses yesterday, amid fears that debt-ridden junior doctors could face a pay cut and lose their right to live on hospital premises free of charge.
A doctor's entitlement to accommodation is worth an estimated £4,800 a year. The BMA argues that removing this perk of the job and recent sub-inflation pay awards will leave the average junior doctor facing a 20% pay cut.
The junior doctor's committee of the BMA is particularly angered by the Government's refusal to compensate doctors for their loss of accommodation.
Committee chairman, Dr Ram Moorthy, said: "Hospital accommodation was often of a low standard but it was one of the few benefits of working as a junior doctor. Its removal comes at a time when medical students’ debts are growing and junior doctors’ pay packets are shrinking.
"Despite having lost the accommodation for next year, when we requested that junior doctors should be compensated, the Government refused to accept that.
"We’ve gone to the NHS employers to ask for negotiations – to get a rise in salary to compensate for the loss of accommodation."
A spokesman for the Welsh Assembly Government said: "The provision of free accommodation has not been withdrawn from all junior doctors. Doctors in all grades continue to be provided with accommodation at no charge if they are required to live on the hospital site.
"Following consultation with the BMA and other stakeholders, it was decided that the need for all first year trainees to live on site was unnecessary either from a training or service perspective. Other doctors and staff groups are treated exactly the same. In the past many junior doctors did not take up the offer of free accommodation anyway.
"However, we are encouraging trusts to maintain existing contractual arrangements with their junior doctors to provide accommodation at no charge until August 1 to help them complete their rotations. Trusts can also still provide accommodation for free beyond that if they choose."
Negotiations continue between the BMA and NHS employers.
