Black doctors are paid nearly £10,000 LESS than their white colleagues as figures reveal the NHS’s ‘unacceptable barriers’ for ethnic minorities
- Figures released by NHS Digital have revealed the pay gap between ethnicities
- The difference in earnings has been called ‘unacceptable’ by experts
- Black people earn less in all jobs across the NHS, from porters to surgeons
Black NHS doctors are paid on average almost £10,000 less a year than white ones, figures have revealed.
And black nurses and midwives earn an average of nearly £2,300 less because of a race pay gap which has been branded ‘appalling’ and ‘enormous’.
Data showing the salaries of 750,000 NHS staff have shown black people in all roles across the health service are being paid less than their white counterparts.
The gap, branded an ‘unacceptable barrier’, exists for people working as hospital porters all the way up to neurosurgeons and amount to ‘discrimination’.
The figures come just a week after one of the country’s most senior doctors called the NHS ‘subconsciously racist’ for making it hard for ethnic minority medics to be promoted.
Black people have lower average salaries across all areas of the NHS, figures have revealed, but the gaps are biggest for doctors who earn, on average, around £9,500 less than their white counterparts
Figures from NHS Digital this week showed black female doctors earn an average of £9,612 less than white women, while the gap for men is £9,492.
The data looked at the salaries of workers who identify themselves as black, African, Caribbean or black British, The Guardian reported.
Black women can expect to earn £2,700 less than white women if they work as a nurse or midwife, while men in the same jobs are paid £1,872 less if they’re black.
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Across all of the approximately 300 jobs available in the NHS, black men earn an average of £7,272 less than the average male pay – and £5,796 less than their white peers.
And the gap for women is smaller but still amounts to an average of £2,172 lower than the average for all female workers – and £1,980 less than their white peers.
HOW MUCH IS THE DIFFERENCE IN PAY FOR THE AVERAGE NHS WORKER?
WOMEN (monthly/yearly salary, on average)
AVERAGE: £2,423 = £29,076
Asian: £2,637 = £31,644
Black: £2,242 = £26,904
Multiple ethnic groups: £2,408 = £28,896
White: £2,407 = £28,884
Other ethnic group: £2,590 = £31,080
Unknown: £2,491 = £29,892
MEN (monthly/yearly salary, on average)
AVERAGE: £3,157 = £37,884
Asian: £3,764 = £45,168
Black: £2,551 = £30,612
Multiple ethnic groups: £3,144 = £37,728
White: £3,034 = £36,408
Other ethnic group: £3,690 = £44,280
Unknown: £3,369 = £40,428
‘BME doctors make up more than a third of the medical workforce and play a vital role, day in day out, delivering care to patients across the country,’ Dr Chaand Nagpaul, chair of the British Medical Association told The Guardian.
‘Yet these figures confirm that they, alongside wider NHS staff, continue to face unacceptable barriers, penalties and discrimination in the health service.’
The figures released by NHS Digital are the biggest available breakdown of how pay differs across people of different ethnicities.
The official body only gave a detailed breakdown for the pay of doctors, nurses and midwives.
Dame Donna Kinnair, the acting chief executive of the Royal College of Nursing said: ‘As a black woman who spent a career in NHS nursing, nobody feels stronger about this than me.
‘For the first time these figures show the shocking scale of the challenge we face to ensure BAME staff are represented at every level of our healthcare system.
‘The enormous pay gaps highlighted here reflect the appalling lack of diversity at senior levels in the NHS.
‘BAME staff make up 25 per cent of NHS workforce, yet this dwindles to just seven per cent of senior managers. This lack of diversity means the NHS leadership fails to reflect the population it serves.’
The damning figures come just a week after Dr Nagpaul, BMA chairman, said the NHS was ‘subconsciously racist’ and doesn’t promote enough ethnic minority doctors.
Dr Nagpaul, born to Indian parents in Kenya, told The Telegraph last week: ‘At every stage in my career I have prepared and worked much harder than I would have needed to in order to secure positions.
‘I’ve just accepted that. Sadly there is little doubt there is still a lack of equality in terms of staff in the NHS. That’s of detriment to the population.’
The NHS employs 100,000 doctors, of which figures show around a third are from black or minority ethnic (BME) backgrounds.
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