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Sector criticises Hunt’s commitment to tackle gender #paygap

Sector criticises Hunt’s commitment to tackle gender #paygap

By Léa Legraien
Reporter
29 May 2018

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Internet users have criticised health and social care secretary Jeremy Hunt’s commitment to tackling the gender pay gap for doctors.

Twitter users accused Mr Hunt of being dishonest following his plan to launch a review to eliminate the pay gap between male and female junior doctors.

In 2016, he imposed a junior doctor contract, which was found to have a ‘disproportionate impact on women’, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) concluded.

Mr Hunt’s announcement comes after he recruited Royal College of Physicians (RCP) president Jane Dacre to lead the review, which will look at gender pay gap in medicine and the NHS. According to the DHSC, a female doctor is paid on average 15% less (£10,219) than male colleagues, while there is an overall pay gap of 23% within the national health service.

‘Disingenuous’

 

 

The DHSC’s equality analysis of the 2016 draft contract, published by NHS Employers, revealed that female doctors could face higher childcare costs in the evenings and weekends and that single mothers would be the most affected.

Widening the scope?

Others argued that the review is not enough and should also include black and minority ethnicity (BME) groups.

Imposing equal pay?

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