Junior doctor claims he was underpaid

A junior doctor has told and Employment Tribunal that his former bosses underpaid him, the Bromsgrove Advertiser reports.

Dr Nigel Suggett is claiming alleged unauthorised deduction of wages from the Heart of England Foundation Hospitals NHS Trust.

The Tribunal was told that the junior doctor had a one year contract of £42,000 for the year, plus extras, but Dr Suggett alleges that he should have been upgraded to a higher pay level.

The Tribunal also heard how junior doctors working for the trust did not always get the chance to take off their allowed half days off due to workload pressures. Dr Suggett has since left the trust.

The trust opposes the claim, saying such upgrades take place only after a monitoring exercise, and and that two attempts were made at monitoring in Mr Suggett’s case without success.

The trust’s human resources advisor said that junior doctors were restricted to working no more than 56 hours a week and encouraged to have a half day off, but admitted that some junior doctors were not happy with the workload.

After the two day hearing, chairman Charles Bourn said a decision would be made at a later date because of the amount of evidence to be considered

Dr Suggett is currently working for another hospital trust.