Two-tier access to NHS Scotland travel and relocation expenses

The BMA’s Scottish Junior Doctors Committee is calling for fair travel and relocation expenses for Scottish doctors at all stages of their NHS career

Foundation doctors should receive travel and relocation expenses for the duration of the training programme

Following a recent agreement with NHS Scotland, all junior doctors in Scotland are eligible to claim travel and relocation expenses, yet foundation doctors, due to their short-term contracts for rotations, are not. The BMA believes foundation doctors should receive travel and relocation expenses and employment contracts that last for the duration of the two-year foundation training programme, rather than each four to six month placement or rotation.

Dr Alan Robertson, chair of the BMA’s Scottish Junior Doctors Committee, said: “It is disappointing that the agreement creates two tiers of junior doctors where specialty trainees are entitled to claim for expenses incurred during rotations between sites across Scotland, but first and second-year junior doctors are not.”

In addition, FY1 doctors are no longer entitled to free hospital accommodation in their first year after leaving medical school, costing many junior doctors an extra £4,800 per year. This is the case in England and Northern Ireland. In Wales, free FY1 accommodation will be available until 2010. John Hallett, chair of the BMA’s Scottish Medical Students Committee, said: “Junior doctors have no choice over where they are placed during their first year of training. In Scotland, this can mean travel to placements in diverse locations.”