The British Medical Association (BMA) is to tell the Doctors and Dentists Review Body that doctors need a five-year plan for raising their pay in line with similar professions, starting with a rise of at least 10% next year.

It says the gap between private and NHS pay is getting ever wider and doctors working in the health service are under severe pressure.

It adds that the extra money for doctors could come out of the comprehensive spending review cash and describes government claims that spending on staff takes money away from patient care as "unsustainable".

"The evidence says that the bulk of NHS expenditure is on staff and patient care is simply a shorthand expression for treatment and care of patients by NHS staff," it states.

Justified

Dr Ian Bogle, chairman of the BMA Council, said he expected patients to back the pay claim.

He believes they understand that pay is one of the reasons many doctors are leaving the profession.

"One of the main factors behind people going into a responsible job is the rate of pay and therefore I expect the public will understand that the rate of pay we are calling for is justified," he said.

The BMA said senior hospital doctors were dealing with a big increase in emergency and day case work, junior doctors were "disillusioned" and under high levels of stress and there was a recruitment crisis in general practice.

It is against the use of temporary extra payments for rewarding doctors.

The Doctors and Dentists Review Body recommended a pay rise of 5.55% for GPs and 4.55% for salaried doctors for 1998.

The BMA had asked for a 10% rise over five years.

Staging pay rises

The government accepted the Review Body's recommendations, but decided to implement the pay rise in stages, meaning that doctors only received a rise of 2.35% in April with the rest to be implemented in December.

The BMA "deplores" the staging of pay awards and wants "explicit corrections" to future awards to compensate for past staging.