£50-an-hour? I wouldn’t get out of bed for that! Doctor faces criticism for claiming sum offered by NHS trust is ‘insulting’

A doctor today faced criticism for claiming that a £50-an-hour NHS shift was ‘so insulting’. 

Dr Matthew Evans claimed the locum sum — offered to a ‘friend of mine’ who is a consultant — was proof that the country is ‘broken’. 

Responding to his post on X, once known as Twitter, other doctors working in the NHS described the hourly rate as ‘absurd’ and ‘insane’. One even said they should ‘stay in bed or do something else’.

Others, however, mocked the complaint of Dr Evans, who has supported a wave of devastating NHS strikes.

Writing on the platform X, formerly known as Twitter, Dr Evans said: ‘The value that [NHS] trusts place on medical expertise is so insulting. 

‘A friend of mine was just paid £49/h for a CONSULTANT locum. £49/h. Healthcare in this country is broken.’

One wrote: ‘How can anyone get by on just £8k a month.’ 

In a separate post, they added: ‘You whinge if anyone points out that other systems which pay more are funded differently.’

A second commented: ‘Only four times the living wage? It’s better to let people die.’

Dr Evans, who works in North West London, said he himself has ‘stopped doing’ locum shifts because his local trust only paid around £45/hour for a registrar shift.

He added: ‘If you don’t value my time, I can’t help you sorry.’ 

It is not clear what trust Dr Evans works at, and his X profile states he is a Neurology Clinical Lecturer.

Last week, he told his followers that he couldn’t bring himself to watch ITV‘s Covid drama Breathtaking because it brought up bad memories.

And earlier this month Dr Evans also claimed he had ‘forgotten how rotations work’ because he had worked at the same trust for three-and-a-half years. Rotations are a common part of doctor training. 

Consultants, who are in the top two per cent of earners in the country, are advised by the BMA to charge more than three times the rate allegedly offered to Dr Evans’ friend.

The card urges consultants to seek an hourly rate of £161 on weekdays, £215 at a weekend and in excess of £260 overnight. 

In a second tweet about the £49-an-hour offer, Dr Evans added: ‘The thought someone somewhere thinks that’s an appropriate rate for a consultant fills me with rage.’ 

Responding to a comment agreeing the rate was ‘insulting’, he noted the offer was ‘pretty standard across Northwest London as far as I can tell’.

In January, discussing earlier BMA junior doctor strike action, the medic also criticised the health secretary’s appearance, saying he would support a 34.9 per cent uplift in salary instead of 35 per cent, if it meant Victoria Atkins could employ a ‘stylist to sort that fringe out’. 

Responding to his comments today, Christopher Snowdon, head of lifestyle economics at the Institute of Economic Affairs, told MailOnline: ‘It is easy to laugh at the boundless greed of self-entitled medics, but they are not working in a functioning labour market. 

‘This man’s labour could be worth half as much or twice as much on the open market, but the number of doctors has been restricted over the years — partly due to pressure from the BMA — and the NHS is a near-monopoly. 

‘The solution is to have hospitals competing for doctors and patients but no political party in Britain will have that conversation.’

His comments come at the busiest time of the year for the NHS because of the surge in winter illnesses.

Additionally, junior doctors are striking until 11.59pm on Wednesday.

It marks the 10th time since March that trainee doctors have walked out as the bitter pay row with Government shows no sign of slowing. 

Emergency services remain open on strike days and officials have told Brits needing urgent medical care to still seek help as normal. 

Dr Robert Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi, co-chairs of the BMA’s junior doctors committee, blamed the strike action on the Government’s failure to agree to pay talks.

‘The government could have stopped these strikes by simply making a credible pay offer for junior doctors in England to begin reversing the pay cuts they have inflicted upon us for more than a decade,’ they said. 

‘The same government could have even accepted our offer to delay this round of strike action to give more space for talks – all we asked for in return was a short extension of our mandate to strike.

‘The fact that ministers have chosen strike action over what could have been the end of this year’s pay dispute is disappointing to say the least.’

The BMA has claimed that junior doctors have seen their pay eroded by more than a quarter in real terms since 2008.

Medics have been demanding full pay restoration — worth around 35 per cent — and have said they would not settle for anything less. 

In the summer, ministers had initially offered junior doctors an 8.8 per cent pay rise, on average, for the 2023/24 financial year. 

However, the uplift was higher for first year medics, who were given a 10.3 per cent boost.

Junior doctors in their first year now have a basic pay of £32,300, while those with three years’ experience make £43,900. The most senior earn £63,100.

Ministers insisted this was the final offer. But Ms Atkins offered the medics an additional 3 per cent on top of this rise.

Nurses, physiotherapists and paramedics have all called off strikes following pay deals, while consultants are to vote on an offer their leaders have accepted. 

Consultants, meanwhile, voted against a pay deal in January that would have given them up to an extra £20,000 each year.

The proposed deal would have changed the pay scheme for senior consultants reducing the number of times their pay increases as they gain experience.

However, medics would have reached the top rung of the ladder five years earlier than the current scheme.