woah woah woah! That's not fair! jr doctors are basically the backbone of the service. The consultants supervise and "consult" and diagnose and make decisions, but at the end of the day it is the jr doctors who make sure that those decisions are done and are carried through. Usually, doctors will have a list of tasks to get done and although they technically need to finish by e.g. 5pm, they may end up staying back till 6:30 - 7 to finish their work, for which they don't get extra pay (they get basic pay).
Doctors who work nights and weekends get paid more than the basic pay because those hours are considered "anti social hours". The new contract changes the times of those anti social hours, so they are no longer eligible for the increased pay. (Saturday until.. I believe 7pm? Half day, by no doubt, is no longer considered eligible for increased pay, even though doctors are working traditionally anti social hours! Who on earth considers it okay to work on a saturday for no benefit! ?)
This means that they'll need to work harder to earn the same amount of money as before, be more tired and potentially make more mistakes.
The government may be increasing the basic pay rate - but you have to keep in mind that the basic pay is what gets taxed... so
of course they would increase that, because that means more tax income!
Essentially, it boils down to doctors doing more work for less money (and they already do a lot of work). But may I also point out that this has other side effects, increased tiredness and increased chance of mistakes happening being one of them. Doctors becoming demoralised and under appreciated being another! Wouldn't you rather be treated by a doc who feels like his work is valuable and recognised than one who is overworked and tired?
Junior doctors don't actually earn a lot more than average salary, according to this data. I believe that's a misconception. (?)