yeah but they don't help themselves

hate doctors so much

Doctors pensions are absurd. All the fuss over junior doctors and their (shitty tbf) working environments glossed over quite how much of an obscene gravy train the consultant contract is.

yeah I remember reading that doctors get a consultancy on average on their 1.24th try

so it is basically guaranteed once you are in unless you become very severely mental

yeah I remember reading that doctors get a consultancy on average on their 1.24th try

I think the applications to successes for partnership at Slaughters isn’t that much worse. That definitely doesn’t make it anywhere close to guaranteed for anyone other than the very few who eventually get into a position to make the application.  

And I do feel sorry for the consultants. At least to the extent you can feel sorry for someone’s finances where they have million pound plus pension pots and guaranteed highly paying jobs (which is not a huge amount but not completely insignificant). 

More importantly though it is going to really fvck the country unless we do something about it, like at least letting them have the cash which would go into their pension (subject to all appropriate taxes). 

Why shouldn't they have punchy pension pots? They "qualify" as Drs, then spend the next 8-15 years studying more and more than they ever have and taking exams whilst working, in the hope they may be made up as a Consultant . Most don't as I understand. Then on appointment they get paid 77k, less than a NQ at a SC/MC firm.

I hear some say what of the hundreds of thousands they make doing private work. Yes some do, but again it is in a few areas that lend itself well to doing that . A&E consultants/Trauma Surgeons just don't have the time to be doing private work, nor is it an area that lends itself well to doing private work.

Even if  am wrong about that just how much private work can a junior consultnant make on the side so to speak, it takes years to get to a position where you make 500k on top of your NHS salary.

The days of orthopods banging account medico-legal reports at £1200 a throw , and doing ten a day has long since passed. As has them being an expert witness in a clin neg case , charging 3/4 k a day.

The new pension regime is actually costing them money!

"NHS doctors shouldn't be allowed to do private work. That would solve their problem."

Erm, the current issue is that they HAVE stopped doing 'private work' - i.e. taking on extra work from their NHS employers for more cash. Unfortunately, trusts completely rely on the willingness of consultants to do this in order to manage their workloads. This is because there aren't enough doctors.

The underlying problem here is that NHS consultants are laughably underpaid in relation to the actual demand for their services. This is evidenced by the fact that I could earn more as a locum SHO than a new consultant earns under the current contract.

let’s face it, the main benefit of being a consultant is not the pension

it’s the right to lean back smugly while half-listening with ur fingers intertwined, before saying “well now, there are procedures that can be undertaken, but my recommendation for u is to [fook right off] [but not before filling in ur insurance claim form]”

and then writing to the gp “I saw a charming young chap in my surgery today following your referral. He presented with a sclerotic perineum and associated urinary tract malfunction. I told him to [fook off]. [Now plz deal].

Yours ever

frederick quackson, frcs (penii)”

wot could be better?

As a tax payer who is underwriting their massive fook off pensions, I say they should all be transferred to a DC scheme and they can take the risk on their own shoulders.

You would need a pot of about £3m to get an annuity to match the payout they’ll get from their pensions. 

only if they’ve protected it wellers

also they are nearly all now dc scheme

deductions of 15% plus

Sounds good honestly. Would probably lead to mass resignation and consultant groups contracting services back to the NHS. We can then find out how much medical care is actually worth.

My pals just been made a consultant. His pension terms and salary etc is shite compared to the old guard. If we can get some of them to piss off there is a big bottleneck of decent doctors waiting for a consultant job who are a lot cheaper.

I don't think there are a lot of junior doctors that keen to become consultants at "much cheaper" terms and conditions than the previous generation. That's why I'm writing this from Australia.

There are only so many doctors who want to work in the third world though chimp....

Heh! Well it's this or Newcastle.

You can live like a king in Newcastle on about £30k a year.

do you really want your kids to grow up to cheat at cricket?

We need consultants.  More than we currently have even.  If we aren’t going to incentivise them through cash then sure a few will do it as a calling but we will end up in even more crisis than now.  It’s like tube drivers innit, there’s not some random cadre of them waiting in the wings, so we have to pay to make it worth their while.

Only joking Wellington, I actually love Newcastle - lived there 7 years and will probably go back eventually. Not for career reasons though, the NHS is shit to work in.

I reckon I could live with a significantly worse pension in exchange for a base new consultant salary of, say, £100k. Jam today>jam tomorrow

No as judges have just won their pension case