The British Medical Association has launched the ‘Fairness for the Frontline' campaign, demanding a fair pay rise for tens of thousands of the most highly skilled hospital doctors.

More than 60 per cent of the public believes the country's doctors should get a pay rise in recognition of the risks they have faced during the coronavirus pandemic, with nearly three-quarters believing such a rise should be three per cent or more.

Dr Rob Harwood, the chair of the BMA Consultants Committee said: “Over the past year, when the majority of the public did their duty by staying at home, doctors, nurses and other NHS staff made their way to work, every day coming face-to-face with a deadly virus that they saw tearing through wards and care homes, taking the lives of patients in its wake – the patients they were doing their utmost to save.

“The level of clinical expertise, innovation, and leadership that consultants bring to the NHS must not be underestimated - and currently it is both underestimated and undervalued. During the pandemic we have brought a wealth of expertise to the care of the most critically ill and given the age of many consultants, we have also faced an increase risk from Covid-19 in giving that care.

“With the NHS facing the largest backlog of care in its history, and the demands of Covid still very much a daily reality, the pressures on consultants have not gone away and are not going to go away for the foreseeable future - it is only right that NHS staff, including highly experienced doctors, are rewarded for their efforts with fair pay.

“For the government therefore to suggest a one per cent pay rise, after years of underpay and given consultants’ extraordinary efforts throughout this pandemic, it is nothing more than insulting. We believe that five per cent is a fair pay rise for hospital consultants, ministers need to listen to the voices of doctors and the public and show them just how much they are valued by rewarding consultants with the fair pay that they most definitely deserve.”