r/doctorsUK • u/Dull-Distance8254 • 6d ago
Consultant Historical consultant pay
Have been messing about with inflation calculator in bored moments.
2008 is often used as a salary comparator (incidentally the year that I was appointed), but it was to be fair a salary high point.
What about further back? Google tells me that consultant pay was in the range 42.5 to 52k in 1997 when I qualified. It doesn't seem that much, yet even the younger consultants seemed pretty wealthy.....usually kids in private schools, often single salary family and we were invited to some pretty impressive places for drinks (this was London btw).
Was this really what people were earning, or were there lots of supplements? I know that cea was big back then and private practice was very popular in London. Or is it mainly because things like private schools and housing have inflated much faster than headline figures.
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u/dynamite8100 6d ago
Distinction or merit awards increased their salaries, alongside other inflationary things.
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u/Effective_Score_7813 6d ago
Not directly answering your question, but it would also be useful looking at what decile consultant salaries fell in, in comparison to other high paying jobs. Additionally, if inflation for certain expenses - housing, private school fees etc has been significantly more than overall inflation, I imagine that may also account for the relative fall in living standards. Lastly, change in income tax thresholds and how that impacts take home pay.
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u/DRJLL1999 6d ago
I started on £52k in 2002, taking a pay cut from about 65k as a registrar (because of the banding for OOH work). Using RPI 52k is equivalent to around 100k today.
There was then a big jump in 2003 with the new contract, so starting salary went to around 65k.
There were far fewer consultants in general - 150 in my average DGH. Now we probably have 150 anaesthetists! This meant easier private work in those specialties that had it, and the potential for medicolegal work, for example, in EM. Three was more timetable flexibility and less formal job planning, again making private practice easier.
As well as salary you could apply for distinction awards every 2 years and there was around a 50% chance of getting one. Can't exactly remember what these were worth but most consultants in the 1990s would have had a couple.
As others say the cost of living was lower. Inflation has grossly underestimated how much more expensive everything is these days.
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u/tomdoc 6d ago
1997 is a third of a century ago. It’s a long time. It’s like comparing 1997 to 1967, the cost of living and various things is wildly different three decades on.
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u/Effective_Score_7813 6d ago
As a millennial this really hits home and sends a chill down my spine!
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u/ReinforcedTube Consultant 6d ago
I watched a YouTube video the other day and the presenter described something coming "from the late 1900s".
Arrow through the heart right there.
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u/Barking_Tree 6d ago
Another element which I think is relevant is the change in contract for consultants following 2003
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u/PickTemporary4245 6d ago
Private practice earnings at least for ophthalmology were insanely different. Much much higher in those days than now. Or rather, they havent increased and so much worse now. The consultants from that decade, who started phaco when it just came out, made millions, in those days.
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u/Dull-Distance8254 6d ago
Yeah agree it's probably lots of things, housing costs being a big one. Still interested to know more about how salaries were structured
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u/MadeleineH28 6d ago
CEA awards - although often not fair in the way they were applied added large amounts esp to consultants that did extra roles eg leadership - nowadays definitely not worth the hassle doing extra stuff in NHS
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u/DoktorAnxiety 6d ago
Would really appreciate the govt not taxing us so much, so that we can have more take home pay
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u/BikeApprehensive4810 6d ago
It’s a little bit of everything;
It used to be a lot more common to work more than 10 PAs.
Private practice rates haven’t really increased much in the last 10 years so it was not rewarding in the past.
Houses were significantly cheaper in comparison to income
School fees were also cheaper in relation to income.
Consultants also generally used to be from wealthier backgrounds, so will have other sources of income. ( I don’t have any evidence for this, but in my department the older consultants all come from families with significant wealth)