A prominent Tayside GP does not think doctors should pay more towards their pensions and work to the age of 68, and he hopes the Scottish Government will step in to avoid the issue leading to industrial action.
Dr Andrew Buist, a GP in Blairgowrie and deputy chairman of the British Medical Association’s Scottish GP committee, said he is not yet backing a call for Scottish doctors to take industrial action in protest at changes proposed to their pensions.
But he fears industrial action in the form of a work-to-rule perhaps cancelling weekend clinics could be the outcome if Scottish health minister Nicola Sturgeon does not step in.
Under the UK Government’s plan, doctors’ pension contributions would rise from 8.5% to 14.5% of their salary and they would have to work until they are 68. A UK-wide survey by the BMA of 130,000 doctors and medical students including more than 6,600 in Scotland found that 84% were opposed to the pension reforms being put forward.
Two thirds of the doctors canvassed said they were prepared to take some form of work-to-rule and more than a third of those aged over 50 said they would retire if the changes are forced.
The BMA is writing to UK health secretary Andrew Lansley and Scottish counterpart Ms Sturgeon asking them to intervene, believing that Ms Sturgeon has the power to broker a separate deal for GPs north of the border if Westminster does not yield. If the proposals remain, the BMA will consider industrial action.
Some civil servants on salaries similar to doctors currently pay contributions of only 3.5%. After the proposed increases, senior doctors will pay up to 14.5% by 2014, while top earning civil servants will pay only 9.5%.
The Blairgowrie GP believed it was wrong to make doctors pay more towards their pensions but the bigger issue was forcing them to work to the age of 68. Three years ago the pension age for doctors was raised from 60 to 65, and Dr Buist said making them work for three more years was a step too far.
”Being a doctor is a very demanding job and as doctors get older they will find it increasingly difficult to give patients the care they need,” he said.
Dr Buist accepted that other public sector workers are facing the prospect of having to work beyond the age of 65, but he believes doctors are a special case and not the only ones.
”The police are public sector workers and no one would suggest that they should stay on the beat up to the age of 68 and be able to chase young criminals,” he asserted. ”Similarly, being a doctor requires a certain level of physical and mental skills, some of which are harder to achieve the older you get. People’s thinking gets slower and their manual dexterity becomes impaired.
”There are some public sector jobs that you might be able to continue to do beyond 65 but there are some, like doctors and the police, where I don’t think it is reasonable for people to be made to keep working.
”Yes, people are living longer and healthier lives, and people who are 65 today are much healthier than 65-year-olds were 40 years ago because of better care, eating and lifestyles. But the job a doctor would be expected to do beyond the age of 65 becomes much more difficult than it would be for a younger doctor.”
Dr Brian Keighley, chairman of the BMA in Scotland whose practice is in Stirlingshire, said: ”The Scottish Government should not underestimate the strength and scale of feeling of doctors on this issue they feel let down and betrayed.”
A spokeswoman for the Scottish Government said they were committed to public sector pensions which are affordable, sustainable and fair but occupational pensions are a reserved matter and the UK Government exercises a high degree of control over public sector schemes in Scotland.
She added: ”We intend to consider the long-term reforms in partnership with trade unions and employers once we have greater clarity over the UK Government’s continually developing plans.”