10 Oct 2008

Junior hospital doctors agree to pay deal

5:58 am on 10 October 2008

Junior hospital doctors have agreed to sign a pay deal with their employers.

The announcement from the union representing junior doctors amounts to a formal end to a 15-month pay row that involved strikes.

The Resident Doctors Association says the deal includes an 8.7% pay rise, effective from August, with a further 2% in eight months.

The union says doctors will also get extra improvements for registrars and doctors on night shifts.

General secretary, Deborah Powell, says it is a step in the right direction, but will not solve district health boards' problems when it comes to retaining junior doctors.

Dr Powell says there is still a major gap between salaries and what the doctors can earn overseas or by locum work.

The Government says the settlement is a win-win for the sector and DHBs say it clears the way to begin talks on long-term solutions to workforce challenges.

The new contract expires in just over a year.