Tenth report / Review Body on Doctors' and Dentists' Remuneration.

  • Great Britain. Review Body on Doctors' and Dentists' Remuneration (1962-1970)
Date:
[1969]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Tenth report / Review Body on Doctors' and Dentists' Remuneration. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    9/30 (page 1)
    REMUNERATION TENTH REPORT CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION In the course of our third general review* of the remuneration of doctors and dentists conducted between July 1967 and March 1968 we decided for the time being not to recommend any general increase. The uncertainty then prevailing both as to future economic developments and to incomes policy made it exceptionally difficult to recommend (as we had done in our Seventh Report) an appropriate level of remuneration for as long a period as two years. _As to the immediate situation our view was that, on the information available to us at the time of our report, the general level of doctors’ and dentists’ remuneration had not at that time fallen so seriously behind as to necessitate any overall adjustment. In these circumstances we decided that the best course was to keep the position under review and, should an increase subsequently be shown to be justified by movements in remuneration generally, or by changes in economic circumstances or incomes policy, to make the necessary recom- mendations to adjust the situation immediately (paragraphs 47, 48, 204 and 205 of the Ninth Report). 2. We said in the Ninth Report that the medical and dental professions should not escape the consequences of incomes policy and we accepted that, to the extent that the incomes policy was implemented and applied to all sections of the community, it was an important constituent of the economic background against which we had to work. We emphasised however that it was fundamental to our approach that economic considerations should be applied to the remuneration of the medical and dental professions fairly by comparison with all other sections of the community and wholly without discrimination (paragraph 31 of the Ninth Report). 3. At the same time we stressed that we attached great importance to the principle of comparability as one of the chief factors to be taken into account in determining appropriate medical and dental remuneration. We noted that in default of direct functional comparisons the appropriate relationship between the remuneration of doctors and dentists and that of other professions could not be precisely established, but should be maintained in broad terms. We pointed out that if the professions’ remuneration were allowed to fall seriously behind, then apart from any question of equity the problems of manpower and morale would be aggravated, to the serious and lasting detriment of the National Health Service (paragraph 42 of the Ninth Report). *See our Ninth Report published as a Command Paper (Cmnd. 3600) in May 1968.