JUNIOR doctors in Scotland overwhelmingly backed an 11 per cent pay deal with the Scottish government yesterday.

The medics, now referred to as resident doctors and dentists in training, who have long argued for a reversal of pay erosion in the professions, have backed a deal negotiated by the BMA. It will deliver an 8.5 per cent boost backdated to April and a further 2.3 percent backdated to October, amounting to an immediate pay rise worth 11 per cent.

SNP Health Secretary Neil Gray said he was “very pleased that resident doctors and dentists in training have voted to accept the Scottish government’s pay offer.” 

Welcoming the deal, BMA Scotland’s resident doctor committee chairman Dr Chris Smith warned the health secretary: “We are still only around halfway towards rectifying the historic pay erosion.

“We have had two years of solid progress, but if the Scottish government were to slow down or become complacent now, it would be extremely damaging.

“Any signs that progress is starting to slow or stop in coming years will be met with a resolute and united profession.”