The cost of indemnity pushes GPs away

SIR – Susan Stuttard (Letters, June 10) highlights some of the issues affecting recruitment and retention of NHS GPs.

Another major factor has been the rising cost of medical indemnity insurance, aggravated by the changes in the Treasury discount rate used to calculate negligence awards.

Very belatedly the Health Secretary announced last year that NHS indemnity would be extended to all GPs by 2019. While details are still awaited, unfortunately the announcement came too late to stop me leaving the profession, after an NHS career spanning 38 years, including three decades as a full-time GP.

I am sure many more GPs will resign

SIR – Susan Stuttard’s pension pot cannot have been “significantly reduced”. This implies some kind of theft. Her tax has not been increased and the ending of increments is not the same as a pay cut.

It is also misleading of her to say that students are “saddled with huge … debts”. These “debts” are to be settled at 9 per cent of income in excess of £25,000 per annum, and if not cleared are written off after 30 years. Hugh G Westmacott

Wetherby, West Yorkshire