Seven out of 10 surgeons have cut hours over pension taxes
TWO thirds of surgeons have slashed their NHS hours as a result of hefty bills on their pensions, a poll reveals today.
Medical chiefs are worried about the ‘devastating’ impact on waiting times – particularly as hospitals become busier over winter.
The survey by the Royal College of Surgeons found that 68 per cent of their members were considering early retirement due to the pensions taxes.
A further 69 per cent had reduced their NHS working hours and 64 per cent had been advised to do so, either by accountants or other doctors. One surgeon said his waiting list had gone from five months to nine months ‘overnight’ after he cut back his hours.
Under the existing system – introduced by former chancellor George Osborne – anyone earning more than £110,000 a year faces punitive tax bills if they put more than £10,000 into their pension pot annually. Previously, they could pay up to £40,000 into their pension taxfree each year.
Ministers vowed to reform the flawed pensions scheme in August, and a three-month consultation on more flexible rules will finish next month. GPs and surgeons on six-figure salaries are amongst the hardest hit, and many have slashed their hours to reduce the payments.
Many surgeons have stopped working overtime to clear waiting lists, which are currently at their highest on record.
Figures revealed two weeks ago how 4.4million patients are sitting on waiting lists for NHS operations – including 662,000 who had been waiting at least 18 weeks. Professor Derek Alderson, president of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, called the impact of the pension tax changes ‘devastating’.
He added: ‘Persisting with a
‘Biggest threat to the NHS’
tax system that punishes clinicians for taking on extra work will undoubtedly lead to a further deterioration in waiting times.’ The Royal College of Surgeons surveyed 1,890 of its members, although it represents 25,000 surgeons in England and worldwide.
A 42- year- old trauma and orthopaedic surgeon, who performs procedures such as hip and knee replacements, said: ‘This is not a story about pensions, it is a story about how long patients will have to wait for surgery. My waiting list went from five months to nine months overnight. It is the biggest threat to the NHS at present.’
Another respondent said ‘those who will suffer are the patients that rely on the NHS’.
Miss Stella Vig, a clinical director at Croydon University Hospital in south London and council member of the Royal College of Surgeons, said: ‘ The NHS pensions scheme has created a ‘tax trap’, where accepting an extra shift can lead to a large and entirely unpredictable tax bill landing in the post many months later.’
Professor Andrew Goddard, president of the Royal College of Physicians, stressed the need to resolve the issue and said doctors ‘ simply cannot wait until the next tax year for a solution’.
Dr David Shipstone, of the British Medical Association’s consultants committee, said the survey showed the ‘potentially disastrous impact of these perverse rules on patients’.