EQUALITY IMPACT ASSESSMENT
IMPLEMENTATION OF A NEW PAY AND TERMS AND CONDITIONS
STRUCTURE FOR NON-CONSULTANT CAREER GRADE DOCTORS
Define the aims of the policy
Title of policy
Strategic Outcome
Name of Branch or Division
Directorate or Agency
Implementation of a new pay and terms
and conditions structure for nonconsultant career grade doctors.
To ensure that Scotland’s NHS doctors
are providing high quality, continually
improving, efficient and responsive
services to local people.
Health Workforce and Performance
Directorate:
Pay and Terms and
Conditions of Service Division
Health
What is the purpose of the proposed The purpose of the policy is to
policy (or changes to be made to the modernise the pay structure and terms
policy)?
and conditions of service for Scotland’s
non-consultant career grades and to
implement a new contract.
This will
ensure that the terms and conditions of
service for this group of staff are
comparable with doctors in the rest of
the UK.
Who is affected by the policy or who is Patients, NHS employers and nonintended to benefit from the proposed consultant career grades will be
policy and how?
affected by the policy. The benefits will
include better access and experience
for patients due to increased overall
capacity; doctors will have a contract
that properly recognises and rewards
them; and NHS employers will be better
able to manage doctors’ time in ways
that best meet local needs and
priorities.
How have you, or will you, put the policy The policy has been developed by
into practice, and who is or will be BMAScotland, the Scottish Government
responsible for delivering it?
Health
Directorates
and
NHS
Employers in Scotland.
It will be
delivered by NHS Boards and Special
Health Boards.
How does the policy fit into our wider or It is related to the policy on ensuring
related policy initiatives?
that all staff in NHS Scotland are paid
fairly for the work that they do and it
brings the pay and terms and conditions
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of service for non-consultant career
grades into line with other grades in
NHSScotland who have had their pay
and terms of conditions reviewed and
modernised to meet the needs of
today’s NHS.
It also meets National
Outcome 15 ie ensuring that our public
services are of high quality, continually
improving, efficient and responsive to
local people’s needs.
Do you have a set budget for this work?
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Yes. The cost of implementing the new
contract was £10m in 2008-09.
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What do you already know about the diverse needs and/or experiences of your
target audience?
Do you have information on
Age
Disability
Gender (including pregnancy and maternity)
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender
Race
Religion and Belief
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
Staff and Associate Specialists doctors (formerly known as non-consultant career
grade doctors) are highly competent doctors who work at a senior level in hospital
and community settings. They play a vital role in the delivery of services to patients
and make up a significant proportion of the hospital medical workforce. There are
currently around 1,100 SAS doctors in Scotland, the majority work part-time and
around 55% of this group are women.
Excluding trainees, these doctors account
for 6% of all hospital medical specialties in Scotland. They make up around 39% of
the medical workforce in Accident and Emergency department, 12% of
anaesthetists, 15% of all surgical specialties and 25% of psychiatric specialities.
Historically, SAS doctors have been under-recognised and poorly rewarded in terms
of their commitment to the NHS and there was little or no structured career
progression.
The new contract improves morale, their working life and promotes
the grade as a positive career choice.
They are one of the last groups of NHS staff to be offered new terms and conditions
as part of the Government’s pay modernisation programme.
Age
WTE age groups
Under 20 – 29
30-39
40-49
50-59
60+
3,100.3
3,727.6
2,872.3
1,945.7
350.9
Data only available for all medical and dental staff.
Disability
832 (0.5%) of NHS staff are registered as having a
disability.
Gender (including pregnancy Specialty Doctors
%
and maternity)
Male
45.2
Female
54.8
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & For Scotland as a whole it is estimated that 5-7% of
Transgender
the population is lesbian, gay or bisexual. However,
there is no hard data because no national census
has ever asked people to define their sexuality.
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Race
NHS Staff by Race
White/Scottish
White Other
Asian
Black
Mixed
Other
Not known/declined to say
%
48.2
13.2
1.7
0.4
0.2
0.2
35.0
Data only available for all staff.
Religion and Belief
NHS Staff by Religion/Belief
Church of Scotland
%
20.1
Roman Catholic
8.5
Other Christian
5.5
Other
3.1
No religion
13.6
Not known/declined to say
49.1
Data only available for all staff.
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Do you have enough information to help you understand the diverse needs
and/or experiences of your target audience?
No more information is required.
has been documented above.
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The needs and experiences of this group of staff
5
What does the information you have tell you about how this policy might
impact positively or negatively on the different groups within the target
audience?
The new contract delivers significant benefits including:
For NHS Employers


Job planning, objective setting and performance appraisal which will improve
the ability to manage doctors’ time in ways that best meet local needs and
priorities;
Greater clarity of objectives and more effective systems for engaging doctors
in joint action to improve performance.
For Doctors






A contract that properly recognises and reward them;
A new unified grade of specialty doctor;
Brings this group of doctors into line with reward systems operating for other
senior doctors which will improve morale and motivation;
Improved flexibility through annual review of job plans;
Improved incentives to attract staff for our of hours and weekend working;
Improved service quality, productivity and patient safety through the
introduction of mandatory continuing professional development (CPD).
For Patients


Improved patient access, patient experience and overall capacity in
NHSScotland to deliver clinical care;
Greater opportunities and incentives to arrange care in the evenings and at
weekends leading to improvement in flexibility of treatment arrangements.
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Will you be making any changes to your policy?
Are there any changes?
Age
Disability
Gender (including pregnancy and maternity)
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender
Race
Religion and Belief
No changes will be made to the policy.
affected by it.
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No
No
No
No
No
No
It will have a positive impact on all groups
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Does your policy provide the opportunity to promote equality of opportunity or
good relations?
Yes. All doctors in this group will have improved pay and terms and conditions of
service.
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Does your policy provide the opportunity to promote equality of opportunity or
good relations by altering the policy or working with others?
Age
Disability
Gender (including pregnancy and maternity)
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender
Race
Religion and Belief
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Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
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Based on the work you have done - rate the level of relevance of your policy
Overall – this policy has a low rating.
Age
High
- There is substantial evidence
that people from different groups
or communities are (or could be)
differently affected by the policy
(positively or negatively)
- There is substantial public
concern about the policy, or
concerns have been raised
about the policy’s potential
impact by relevant bodies
- The policy is relevant to all or
part of the respective general
duty, in the case of race,
disability and gender.
Medium
- There is some evidence that
people from different groups or
communities are (or could be)
differently affected (positively or
negatively).
- There is some public concern
about the policy.
- The policy is relevant to parts
of the respective general duty, in
the case of race, disability and
gender.
Low
X
- There is little or no evidence
that some people from different
groups or communities are (or
could be) differently affected
(positively or negatively).
- There is little or no evidence of
public concern about the policy.
- The policy has little or no
relevance to the respective
general duty, in the case of race,
disability and gender.
Unknown
- No evidence or data has been
collected
therefore
an
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Disability
X
Gender LGBT Religion
(includi
and belief
ng
pregna
ncy and
materni
ty)
X
X
X
Race
X
10
assessment cannot be made
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Is a further impact assessment required?
Age
Disability
Gender (including pregnancy and maternity)
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender
Race
Religion and Belief
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No
No
No
No
No
No
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Please explain how you will monitor and evaluate this policy/function or
strategy to measure progress?
Following the introduction of the new contract on 1 April 2008 regular meetings were
held between BMA Scotland, NHS Employers in Scotland and the Scottish
Government Health and Social Care Directorate to monitor progress on the
implementation of the contract.
Boards were asked to submit returns on a bimonthly basis to indicate progress on implementation and on 28 October 2011 all the
parties agreed that the contract had been fully implemented.
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Policy Title
Strategic Outcome
Name of Branch or Division
Implementation of New Contract for NonConsultant Career Grade Doctors
To ensure that our public services are
high quality, continually improving,
efficient and responsive to local people’s
needs
Pay and Conditions of Service Division
Directorate or Agency
Health Workforce and Performance
Directorate
We have completed the equality impact Name: Brenda Burnett
assessment for this policy.
Position: Senior Policy Officer
Date: 24 February 2012
Authorisation by Deputy Director or Name: John Cowie
equivalent
Position: Deputy Director
Date: 24 February 2012
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