THE British Medical Association (BMA) in Scotland has recommended members agree to a pay deal approaching an 11 per cent rise struck with the Scottish government.

The package, worth £64.1 million, will see resident doctors and dentists in training win an 8.5 per cent increase backdated to April this year, and a further 2.3 per cent rise from this month.

Despite ongoing concerns over long-term pay erosion, a meeting of the BMA’s Scottish resident doctors committee have now agreed to put it to the membership with a recommendation to accept.

Committee chairman Dr Chris Smith said the 11 per cent deal represented “satisfactory progress” to restoring pay and that after months of negotiations “the offer represents the best possible increase that we will achieve this year.”

He added: “While we are recommending this offer to members there is still significant work to be done and we are clear that achieving full pay restoration for Scottish resident doctors will be the only fair, just, and acceptable outcome from the next two years of pay negotiations.

“In the long term, the only way we can ever hope to put our NHS on a more sustainable footing is to invest in the medical workforce, for the benefit of both doctors and patients.”

Welcoming the recommendation, Scottish Health Secretary Neil Gray said: “I want to express my thanks again to Scotland’s hard-working resident doctors and dentists in training.

“I am pleased we have been able to work together to honour the agreement from 2023-24, with this offer making significant progress towards resolving pay erosion.

“I am grateful for the continued efforts around the table and, with the unions now consulting their members, I hope it will be accepted.”

The ballot will run from October 28 to November 20.