Doctor Salary in UK - Everything You Need To Know (2023)

FAQs

How are doctors paid by in the UK? ›

The average salary for a doctor working in the UK is approximately £76,000. NHS basic pay starts at £29,000 for a newly qualified doctor and goes all the way up to £114,000 for an experienced consultant. In addition to experience, the field a doctor works in as well as their hours will have bearings on their pay.

Is Medicine Worth It? There are significant downsides to being a doctor in the NHS. Long training times, long working hours, relatively low pay for the first few years and the constant threat of litigation.

Here is a worked example for a doctor earning £70,000 per annum: 20% of £12,570 - £50,270 = £7,540. 40% of £50,271 - £70,000 = £7,891. Total Tax on £70,000 = £15,431.

Can a UK doctor work in the USA? The simple answer is yes! UK doctors can work in the USA but the process can be arduous and the competition is high, especially for international medical graduates (IMGs), but it is not impossible!

The average actual retirement age (including those who had retired but subsequently returned) was 59.6 years (men 59.9, women 58.9). Psychiatrists (58.3) and general practitioners (GPs) (59.5) retired at a slightly younger age than radiologists (60.4), surgeons (60.1) and hospital specialists (60.0).

— Surgeons rank at the top of the payscale —

If you're working as a speciality doctor you earn a basic salary of between £40,037 and £74,661.

The US and the UK both have excellent medical school programs. While they differ a bit in structure, the time it takes to become a doctor is similar in either country.

I'm guessing you are an American and you might not like to hear the true answer to your question but UK (and most European) Doctors (and especially surgeons) are generally regarded as better than those in the US because they train for longer under a more stringent regime and they specialise later.

Are doctors wealthy in the UK? ›

Over 25% of people working as a doctor in the UK earn less than 99,600 GBP while 75% of the doctors earn more than 99,600 GBP. Over 25% of people working as a doctor in the UK earn more than 212,000 GBP. The average doctor's salary in the UK per month is around 4,400 GBP.

While the cost of energy bills and food shops might be on the rise, doctors still earn a very competitive salary, so if you move to the UK to become an NHS doctor, you can expect to live very comfortably.

Junior doctors are overworked to exhaustion as a result of dangerous staffing shortages and a shocking under-investment in the health service by recent governments.” “The longer these problems remain unsolved, the more doctors and nurses will quit, exacerbating the situation further.

The average resident doctor salary in the United Kingdom is £65,000 per year or £33.33 per hour. Entry level positions start at £60,000 per year while most experienced workers make up to £75,000 per year.

The reforms still provide an excellent pension.

The current NHS pension scheme provides the average full time consultant retiring at 60 with a pension of over £43,000 a year for life and a tax free lump sum of around £135,000.

It's a supply and demand thing. The government has a duty to the taxpayer to get value for money in healthcare. If, as you say, there is intense competition to become a doctor.

IMGs (international medical graduates) need certification from the ECFMG (Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates) to be eligible to apply for and enroll in a GME program. Completion of one to three years of GME is required to apply for licensure to practice medicine.

You can immigrate to the UK as a doctor and work if you are a doctor and an EEA national. To go to the United Kingdom and work as a doctor, you do not need to apply for a visa or have a job offer in hand. But, you must pass the English proficiency test.

How many years do I have to work in the UK to get a pension? ›

You'll usually need at least 10 qualifying years on your National Insurance record to get any State Pension. You'll need 35 qualifying years to get the full new State Pension. You'll get a proportion of the new State Pension if you have between 10 and 35 qualifying years.

For members who elect to contribute to the scheme after they have attained 45 years pensionable membership, any benefits payable will be assessed taking into account the reckonable pay up to the date they cease contributing to the scheme/retire. Pension benefits will be calculated using the most beneficial 45 years.

If you are a GP or GDP in the 1995 NHS Pension Scheme, you will receive an annual pension based on 1.4% of your total uprated earnings.

In addition to Luxembourg, there are four other countries where specialists were paid more than €150,000 in 2020. They are Ireland (€172,882), the Netherlands (€160,869), Denmark (€156,061), and Iceland (€155,276). Germany (€146,200) and the UK (€136,375) followed closely.

Courses normally last five years, or four years for a graduate entry programme. They involve basic medical sciences as well as clinical training on the wards. After graduation, you'll enter the two-year Foundation Programme. You'll be provisionally registered with a licence to practise while completing the first year.

High vacancies. The NHS has long carried a stubbornly high number of unfilled vacancies, a problem that far predates the pandemic. As of December 2022, there were around 124,000 vacancies in secondary care in England. Of these, 8,728 vacancies were medical, which means 5.9% of all medical posts were vacant.

Indeed, London is home to many of the most prestigious NHS hospitals in the world and we work with multiple NHS Trusts across Central and Greater London who offer fantastic opportunities for doctors from overseas who wish to grow their careers.

3. Is getting into medical school in the UK easier or harder than in the US? Admission to medical school in both countries is extremely competitive, but the average medical school acceptance rates in the US are lower than those in the UK.

It's no secret that Medicine is one of the hardest degrees in the world, not least because courses are so competitive. UCAS figures show that 29,710 people applied to study medicine in the UK in 2022. The number of applicants from the four countries of the UK shot up 3.5% from last year.

Is med school harder in US or UK? ›

Looking at the overall numbers, I'd argue it's tougher to get into US medical school than UK - there does seem to be more competition, with a tough pre-med program to get through and then extensive selection in the US meaning that many fall by the wayside.

Even though it is widely assumed that the best doctors in the world are in the United States, there are plenty of other countries that have great doctors as well. For example, Japan and South Korea are known for having strong medical systems.

Costs of healthcare: UK vs USA

Treatment costs in the USA are a lot more than private surgery costs here in the UK, with cancer-related treatments costing up to five times more in the USA than if you were being treated privately in the UK.

Most medical schools in England and Wales charge home students tuition fees of £9,250 per year. Schools in Northern Ireland and Scotland differ, depending on where you are from. This may seem like a lot, but every full-time UK or EU student is entitled to a tuition fee loan to fund these costs.

Doctor Salary in the UK

The average salary for a Doctor is £76,300 gross per year (£4,400 net per month), which is £46,700 (+158%) higher than the UK's national average salary. A Doctor can expect an average starting salary of £40,050.

Hours of work can vary from speciality to speciality. Some may have straightforward hours of 9 am-5 pm, 8 am-4 pm, or 8 am-6 pm for the normal working day (NWD). Less acute specialities typically only have two sets of hours to take into consideration: Normal Wording Day.

They cited increased workloads, mental health and wellbeing, and staff shortages as the main reasons. Stress levels have reached an almost unsustainable point in the health workforce. Doctors urgently need recognition, reassurance and realism from the government.

All employees are entitled to statutory paid annual leave of 5.6 weeks per annum, or 28 days, which can include public holidays.

On average, a doctor in the UK is contracted to work 40 hours per week. This figure however varies depending on whether the doctor is in training, what specialty they work in and their individual contract. Many doctors also work uncontracted overtime on a regular basis.

How many UK doctors leave the profession? ›

A spokesperson for the Department for Health and Social Care told Sky News that there are record numbers of doctors working in the NHS. But a record number are resigning too. In England last year, 3,229 doctors resigned from the NHS, with 341 citing burnout as the reason - double what it was a decade ago.

Doctors in the NHS will get roughly 30-40 days off each year. The number of days off a doctor gets depends on when they signed their contract and at what level of training they are. Junior doctors initially only get 27 days of leave whereas consultants generally get 6 weeks off.

The NHS is considered to be one of the most prestigious healthcare systems in the world. ​ It is world-renowned for being at the forefront of patient care and cutting edge healthcare technology. This is one of the main reasons why so many doctors and nurses are keen to relocate to the UK.

The global sum payment for each practice is based on a weighted sum for every patient on the practice list. The Carr-Hill formula is used to apply these weightings, which account for factors such as age and gender. The global sum amount is reviewed quarterly to account for changes to the practice's patient population.

' reports the Lancet. QOF bonuses account for between 8 and 20 per cent of a GPs salary, funded by your taxes –estimated as a £2000 annual tax bill for each household. In other words you, not the drug companies, effectively are paying the commission for prescribing ineffective drugs.

All English residents are automatically entitled to free public health care through the National Health Service, including hospital, physician, and mental health care. The National Health Service budget is funded primarily through general taxation.

In England, most working-age adults have to pay prescription charges. Certain groups are entitled to free NHS prescriptions and some prescribed items are always free, including contraceptives and medication for hospital inpatients.

Most adults in England have to pay prescription charges. Some items are always free, including contraceptives and medicines prescribed for hospital inpatients. The current prescription charge is £9.35 per item.

GP practices in England received an average of £155 per patient this financial year, official data has shown. In its annual report on NHS payments to general practice, published today, NHS Digital revealed that 7,001 practices in England were paid on average £155.46 per registered patient in 2019/20.

Does the UK accept foreign doctors? ›

The GMC uses the PLAB test to ensure that international doctors have the basic medical competence and communication skills to practise in the UK. Doctors wishing to take the PLAB test must have already successfully completed the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) or Occupational English Test (OET).

IMPORTANT: Anyone in the UK can receive treatment at an NHS facility, no matter their residency status. However, tourist visitors to the UK do not typically qualify for free NHS treatment. Any care beyond emergency treatment and certain other services will likely incur a fee.

All of Britain's national museums (not just the ones in London) are free to everyone, every day of the year. There's also free access to most of the nature reserves and state-run parks, as well, where you can hike, bike, search for animals, and walk on the beach.

They are entitled to free NHS services, including NHS hospital care, except for services for which a UK ordinary resident must also pay, such as dentistry and prescriptions in England, and assisted conception services.