Like most formerly ‘gold-plated’ pensions, the NHS pension has been watered down over the years; since 1995, in fact. But although it’s not what it was, it’s still at least silver compared with the base metal of most other workplace pensions these days. It used to be the case that if you worked in anything government-related, a local authority, the civil service or in days-gone-by a nationalised industry, the pay might not have been the best, but they’d certainly reward your years of service with more than a clock or gold watch. The sad thing is that most of those opting out are not consultants worrying that they might breach the lifetime or annual allowances. It’s actually those likely to need a pension of any kind the most, who simply can’t afford the contributions. Surely it’s common sense that not paying them enough now is kicking all sorts of problems down the road?
“NHS waits force patients to pay for private ops”
Years ago when I worked in Greece, families used to fly their poorly relatives to London to get better medical treatment. Now it’s cheaper, even with the cost of flights and hotels, to go to Lithuania for a hip replacement and Hungary or Turkey for a bit of dental work.
