White consultants in the NHS earn £4,644 more a year on average than their black and ethnic minority counterparts, research suggests.
In December 2017, white consultants working in the health service took home £387, or 4.9 per cent, more than doctors of other ethnicities.
This total comes to more than £4,000 when it is scaled up over the course of a year, according the Nuffield Trust analysis.
Results of the analysis suggest the pay gap is small for nearly all grades and types of doctors, with consultants being the exception.
John Appleby, from the Nuffield Trust, admits many of these differences in pay will be ‘unwarranted’.
However, he added that white consultants tend to be older and therefore may earn more due to them having greater experience.
Graph shows the differences in basic pay between white and black or minority ethnic (BME) NHS doctors in December 2017. Although for many groups and types of medics the difference was close to zero, among consultants, white doctors earned 4.9 per cent more
The British Medical Association slammed the results of the study, saying it ‘confirms black and minority ethnic doctors continue to face unacceptable barriers’.
Mr Appleby analysed the basic pay data from the NHS Electronic Staff Record for December 2017 alone.
He assessed the income of doctors in England directly employed by the NHS and how these differed according to the medics’ self-identified ethnic categories.
The average basic pay for white consultants is around 3.5 per cent higher than their black counterparts, the results showed.
And the study, published in the British Medical Journal, also found the gap is six per cent for those of mixed or dual heritage.
Commenting on his study, Mr Appleby said: ‘White consultants tend to be older.
‘And if age is taken as a proxy for experience, and experience is positively linked to remuneration, then we would expect to see some difference in pay.
‘However, there will be other explanations too – some warranted, others not so much.’ He concluded that the results are ‘worth investigating further’.
Dr Chaand Nagpaul, chairman of council at the British Medical Association, argued,
He said: ‘This study confirms that black and minority ethnic doctors continue to face unacceptable barriers, penalties and discrimination in the NHS.
‘It cannot be right that in 21st century Britain there are such wide gaps in pay between white and BME doctors in senior posts, when irrespective of their background, they hold positions to deliver the same care to patients.
Graph shows the difference in salaries between consultants of different ethnicities. Compared to Asian medics, white doctors took home £387 more in December 2017. The greatest pay difference was for those of a mixed ethnicity, who earned £487 less
‘The Government and the NHS must take this issue seriously and tackle all forms of discrimination within the health service.’
NHS England was approached for comment.
The NHS is one of the largest employers in the world and the largest in the UK, with around 1.6 million directly employed staff.
In England, 20 per cent of NHS staff identify as belonging to a minority ethnic group compared to 15 per cent of the general population.
The proportion of black and ethnic minority staff varies from 37 per cent among junior doctors to 60 per cent for specialists.
This comes after research released last July suggested one in four GPs would consider quitting their jobs to work for a health-diagnosis app.
Improved pay is a key driver behind doctors considering working for controversial online private providers such as Babylon Health, a survey found.
Earlier this year, an NHS consultant claimed he tested Babylon by pretending to have a nosebleed with reduced sexual desire.
The app concluded he was likely suffering from erectile dysfunction, which he called a ‘risk to patient safety’.
Although Dr Krishna Kasaraneni, from the British Medical Association, claims most doctors prefer face-to-face consultations within the NHS, she adds many medics are increasingly frustrated by ‘unmanageable workloads’ and ‘chronic underfunding’.
Babylon, which offers both a private and an NHS service, reportedly pays its 200 GPs a full-time salary of around £90,000 to work from home or £108,000 if office based.
Although an attractive option for some, other GPs dismiss such services as ‘McDonald’s medicine’.
Graph shows how NHS doctors identify their ethnicities compared to the general population. In England, 20 per cent of NHS staff identify as being of a minority ethnic group. This is compared to just 15 per cent of the public who say they are non-white
Graph shows the ages of NHS consultants in England and how many of these medics are white or BME. The researcher behind the study argues white consultants tend to be older and therefore may earn more due to them having more experience