Anyone affected by the Doctor's strike on Thursday?

[emc]

Hello

Doctors are due to strike this Thursday over pensions, meaning that thousands of operations, hospital appointments and scans will be cancelled - is there anyone on the forum being affected by the strike who would be willing to chat about it for a small fee? Pls PM for more info. Thanks v much.

[the-e-dealer]

No not me. Good Luck to them.

[Marmora Man]

the-e-dealer Wrote:

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> No not me. Good Luck to them.

Yes, getting by on a tax payer funded and index linked pension of ?48,000 - ?100,000 must be really tough.

[the-e-dealer]

Yeah sack the Doctors.

[womanofdulwich]

its kind of sick isn't it? But i think the govt is going back on some ridiculous deal it made. As long as they have to work till 75 to get it I am ok with it.

[Chippy Minton]

Doctors' pensions are simply deferred pay - doctors have paid for their pensions themselves, their scheme is not unstainable, it is not in deficit and now they are being told it's being cut.

The fact that it's the first doctors' industrial dispute for 40 years speaks volumes for the strength of feeling.

Good luck to all of them.

[the-e-dealer]

Funnily enough the Doctors have only recently agreed that he Government can have some of the SURPLUS from their scheme.

[Huguenot]

If doctors can defer sufficient pay from the public purse to generate a 100k a year pension, then we'd have to ask whether they're currently being overpaid?

[the-e-dealer]

Like I said ! :-)

[Undisputedtruth]

Huguenot Wrote:

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> If doctors can defer sufficient pay from the

> public purse to generate a 100k a year pension,

> then we'd have to ask whether they're currently

> being overpaid?

They're no more overpaid than marketing people like Hugo. At least Doctors do something useful like saving lives.

[Loz]

Chippy Minton Wrote:

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> Doctors' pensions are simply deferred pay -

> doctors have paid for their pensions themselves,

> their scheme is not unstainable, it is not in

> deficit and now they are being told it's being

> cut.

>

> The fact that it's the first doctors' industrial

> dispute for 40 years speaks volumes for the

> strength of feeling.

>

> Good luck to all of them.

If doctors are paying for the pensions themselves, how can the government cut it? Are you saying there is no taxpayer involvement here?

[the-e-dealer]

No Tax payer cost yes.

[Chippy Minton]

Loz - Eh? There is no cost because the scheme is in surplus (not no "involvement"). Are you deliberately being obtuse?

[Loz]

That can't be right. Surely then it is a private insurance scheme and the government could not have any say on the matter.

Something doesn't add up here.

[Huguenot]

Dominic Lawson observed this of the new deal:

"The average doctor's pension if he retires at 68 will be ?68,000 a year. To put that in context: if you wanted to buy a joint annuity which would provide that sum in retirement (and for your spouse after your death), it would cost about ?2m on the open market [...] and of which over 85 per cent would come courtesy of the taxpayer."

i.e. to get a Doctor's pension you'd need to save two million quid before you retired.

UDT may think I don't derseve my salary, but I'll never save 2m in my lifetime, and I'm not sure that being an expert gardener or secret premiership player manager deserves much of a salary either ;-).

And 85% of that money comes from the taxpayer.

The 'private fund' that the Unions refer to is the NHS fund (which is as observed currently in surplus, but won't be in surplus once we've all lived longer in greater numbers).

The goverment is legislating for a 65 years old retirement date, and a 14.5% salary witholding to pay for the pension.

All that cash (the NHS fund or the doctor's salaries) comes from the taxpayer, and the government is quite within it's rights to negotiate the terms of those agreements.

Needless to say the doctors want to retire younger, pay less and get bigger pensions.

[the-e-dealer]

nah it was nothing.

[Undisputedtruth]

Perhaps, he's doing something more useful like saving a life.

[Huguenot]

It's nothing to do with a personal attack on me or Marks and Spencer advertising.

The average UK adult will spend twice as much on beer every year as he does on funding the NHS.

If the taxpayer wants to pay doctors more and let them retire earlier on pensions of 68,000 a year that's entirely up to them, they are fully entitled to vote in political parties on the back of 'increase our taxes NOW' arguments.

But they don't do they?

So you'll need a more intelligent argument?

[Undisputedtruth]

I wonder if marketing people consider themselves more intelligent than doctors?

[the-e-dealer]

Get your lovely Bananas here only ?1 a bunch.

[steveo]

They've probably got less free time on their hands

[Undisputedtruth]

So true, steveo. You don't see doctors drinking tiger beers all day long and talking endless rubbish on internet forums.

[Alan Medic]

I for one have never been able to tell if a person drinking a tiger beer was or wasn't a doctor. I must pay more attention. I can only assume UDT, given your own criteria, that you are not a doctor.

[Undisputedtruth]

I've not set any criteria. I simply said you don't see doctors drinking tiger beer all day long and talking endless rubbish on the internet. Keep up please, AM.

[Alan Medic]

As you appear to spout endless rubbish on internet forums I concluded you weren't a doctor. That was the criteria you set.