New South Wales

Public hospital doctor pay — interns to specialists, with penalties, on-call & allowances

Enterprise Agreement

Public Hospital Medical Officers (State) Award 2023

Current (interim rates; award claim under NSW IRC arbitration)

AnnualHourly

Roles & Wages

Role	Pay Point	July 2025
Intern Doctor in Training Base annual salary for the first postgraduate year (PGY1), serving in a hospital prior to obtaining full registration.	PGY1	$80,638
Resident Medical Officer Doctor in Training Base annual salary for a Resident Medical Officer in the first resident year (PGY2).	PGY2 (Resident Year 1)	$94,521
Senior Resident Medical Officer Doctor in Training Base annual salary. The NSW resident scale caps at the PGY3 (Resident Year 2) rate, so PGY4 residents are paid the same figure.	PGY3 (Resident Year 2)	$103,961
	PGY4 (capped at PGY3 rate)	$103,961
Registrar Doctor in Training Base annual salary by year of registrarship. The award scale tops out at Year 4, so Years 4-7 share the same rate.	Year 1	$117,745
	Year 2	$127,827
	Year 3	$137,946
	Year 4	$147,664
	Year 5	$147,664
	Year 6	$147,664
	Year 7	$147,664
Senior Registrar Doctor in Training Base annual salary. Senior Registrars are not eligible for the Higher Medical Qualification allowance.	Year 1	$166,025
Career Medical Officer Career Medical Officer Base annual salary for non-training hospital career doctors. The entry step and the top step are shown; intermediate yearly increments sit between them.	Grade 1, Year 1	$147,664
	Grade 2, Year 4	$220,018
Assistant Medical Superintendent Medical Superintendents Base annual salary for the entry Medical Superintendents classification. Senior consultant (Staff Specialist) salaries sit under a separate award and are not shown here.	Level 1, Year 1	$194,088
Chief Executive Officer Medical Superintendents Base annual salary, excluding the 16% clinical loading paid where the role includes clinical work.	Level 1	$276,424

Showing annual salary rates

Allowances

Allowance	Unit	July 2023	July 2025
On-Call Allowance — clinical, rostered-on-duty day (cl 12) Home-based clinical on-call coinciding with a day rostered on duty: the doctor must hold themselves ready to provide remote clinical support or attend the hospital if called.	Per on-call period (max 24h)	—	$112.70
On-Call Allowance — clinical, rostered-off-duty day (cl 12) Home-based clinical on-call coinciding with a day rostered off duty.	Per on-call period (max 24h)	—	$226.20
On-Call Allowance — relief, rostered-on-duty day (cl 12) Relief on-call coinciding with a day rostered on duty: readiness to attend the hospital in an emergent situation only, with no remote clinical support.	Per on-call period (max 24h)	—	$37.20
On-Call Allowance — relief, rostered-off-duty day (cl 12) Relief on-call coinciding with a day rostered off duty.	Per on-call period (max 24h)	—	$53.00
Meal Allowance — breakfast (cl 11(iii)) Overtime worked without notice on or before the previous shift, commencing at or before 6.00 am. Varied in line with the Crown Employees (Public Service Conditions of Employment) Award.	Per meal	—	$38.65
Meal Allowance — evening meal (cl 11(iii)) Overtime worked for at least one hour immediately after normal ceasing time that extends beyond, or is worked wholly after, 7.00 pm.	Per meal	—	$38.65
Meal Allowance — lunch on Saturday/Sunday/holiday (cl 11(iii)) Overtime extending beyond 2.00 pm on Saturdays, Sundays or holidays.	Per meal	—	$38.65
In-Charge Allowance (cl 5) Paid where the doctor carries responsibility for after-hours medical services.	Per 12 hours of duty (or part thereof)	—	$24.20
Higher Medical Qualification Allowance (cl 4) For an appropriate higher medical qualification obtained after graduation (postgraduate degrees, college memberships/fellowships). Not payable to Senior Registrars. Last published rate: 1 July 2023.	Per week	$65.70	—
Higher Medical Qualification Allowance — 5th-year+ registrars (cl 4) Registrars in their fifth and subsequent years of registrarship who are expected to meet the formal qualification requirements. Last published rate: 1 July 2023.	Per week	$32.90	—
Uniform Allowance — full uniform incl. special shoes (cl 21) Where the employer requires a uniform but does not provide it. Last published rate: 1 July 2023.	Per week	$2.89	—
Uniform Allowance — other cases (cl 21) Where the employer requires a uniform but does not provide it. Last published rate: 1 July 2023.	Per week	$2.13	—

Penalty Rates

Afternoon penalty (cl 8(i))12.5%

Ordinary hours worked between 6.00 pm and midnight, Monday to Friday, paid at ordinary time plus 12.5%.

Night penalty (cl 8(ii))25%

Ordinary hours worked between midnight and 7.00 am, midnight Sunday to midnight Friday, paid at ordinary time plus 25%.

Saturday penalty (cl 8(iii))50%

Ordinary hours worked between midnight Friday and midnight Saturday, paid at ordinary time plus 50%.

Sunday penalty (cl 8(iv))75%

Ordinary hours worked between midnight Saturday and midnight Sunday, paid at ordinary time plus 75%.

Overtime — weekday (cl 11)150% / 200%

Time worked beyond ordinary hours (or beyond 10 hours in any one shift): time-and-a-half for the first two hours, double time thereafter. Each day stands alone.

Overtime — Sunday (cl 11)200%

All overtime performed on a Sunday is paid at double time.

Public holiday worked (cl 15(ii))150%

Hours worked on a public holiday are paid at time-and-a-half, and one day is added to annual leave for each public holiday worked (unless time off in lieu is granted).

Call-back while on call (cl 12(iv))Overtime rates, min 4 hours

A doctor recalled to the hospital is paid all time worked at the applicable overtime rate with a minimum four hours' payment. Time answering calls, providing remote clinical support or travelling is compensated by the on-call allowance, not paid separately.

Clinical loading — Medical Superintendents16% of salary

Salary supplement for clinical work performed as part of a Medical Superintendent's function. The Chief Executive Officer figure above excludes this loading.

Annual leave loading17.5%

Calculated by reference to the salary that would have applied in the absence of salary sacrifice.

Notes

•These figures are the annual base salary in Australian dollars, at the rate applying from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2025.
•NSW public hospital doctors are currently paid under interim increases agreed between NSW Health and the medical unions — +3% from 1 July 2024 and a further +3% from 1 July 2025 — while the underlying award claim is arbitrated by the NSW Industrial Relations Commission. No 1 July 2026 rate has been published yet, so only the current column is shown.
•Ordinary full-time hours are 38 per week. The hourly rate is the annual salary ÷ 52.17857 ÷ 38; overtime and penalties are calculated on that hourly rate.
•The Registrar scale caps at Year 4 (Years 4-7 are paid the same rate) and the resident scale caps at PGY3 (PGY4 is paid the PGY3 rate).
•Only the entry step (Grade 1, Year 1) and top step (Grade 2, Year 4) of the Career Medical Officer scale are shown; the intermediate yearly increments are not listed here.
•Senior consultant (Staff Specialist) salaries are set by the separate Staff Specialists (State) Award and are not included in this dataset; the Medical Superintendent figures shown come from the same NSW Health interim-increase bulletins as the junior doctor rates.
•The on-call, meal and in-charge allowances reflect the 1 July 2025 interim increase; the Higher Medical Qualification and uniform allowances show the last published 1 July 2023 rates.
•When salary packaging, NSW Health retains 50% of the fringe-benefits-tax rebate benefit — unlike public health employers in other states.
•Source: Public Hospital Medical Officers (State) Award 2023, NSW Health — https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/careers/conditions/Awards/ph-medical-officers.pdf; interim salary increases per NSW Health Information Bulletin IB2026_007 — https://www1.health.nsw.gov.au/pds/ActivePDSDocuments/IB2026_007.pdf