Are doctors justified in striking in defence of their pensions?
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BMJ
Are doctors justified in striking in defence of their pensions?
Discuss what's in the BMJ and on bmj.com
This is the question asked in the BMJ's Head to Head this week. Yes: http://www.bmj.com/content/344/bmj.e3242 No: http://www.bmj.com/content/344/bmj.e3175 Changes are afoot for doctors pensions in Eng
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Cat:BMJForum:BMJDiscussion:26d01ffb-f00b-4a64-8e6e-234674487087
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Re: Are doctors justified in striking in defence of their pensions?
posted at 12/5/2012 6:54 AM BST
on bmj.com
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Posts: 1
First: 12/5/2012 Last: 12/5/2012 |
Being a doctor is your key duty to save the life what ever be the condition is.While taking the oath of Hippocratus every individual doctor all over the glove promishes to give their full effort on the patient care. The person who come to this profession should not be highly focused on money.so is it important for doctors to go for the strike....... |
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Re: Are doctors justified in striking in defence of their pensions?
posted at 12/5/2012 12:39 PM BST
on bmj.com
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*Moderator*
Posts: 1447
First: 7/4/2011 Last: 22/5/2013 |
Retirement age seems to be a big issue. I wouldn't particularly like a 67 year old doctor treating me. It seems we might have a whole nation of older people who are worn out or perhaps not as physically sharp or fit as they once were but are still mentally with it. If you don't feel comfortable treating patients over a certain age, what other medical roles would you feel happy doing? |
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Re: Are doctors justified in striking in defence of their pensions?
posted at 12/5/2012 12:56 PM BST
on bmj.com
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Posts: 1178
First: 19/4/2010 Last: 21/5/2013 |
I think the roles we occupy should move as we get older. I come back to the forces analogy - older officers have more strategic roles, or training roles. I wish I could get the older, more experienced doctors to take on a "role model"/inspirational role in the medical school - but they are still flogged with on call, and such.
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Re: Are doctors justified in striking in defence of their pensions?
posted at 12/5/2012 8:16 PM BST
on bmj.com
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Posts: 324
First: 23/12/2011 Last: 3/5/2013 |
I wholeheartedly am against doctors striking. It pains me that so much attention has been placed on this issue and I have posted on this issue several times on other forums. We simply have no grounds to be striking on this issue when so many other professions in far worse a position. I find it unfortunate that medical students cannot vote on this because I would most definitely vote no. If the BMA and the like are looking for things to fight for I am afraid the time has come and gone with the Health and Social Care bill which I feel is far worse for medicine than us getting a measly pay cut. Should we let the governemnt trample over us. No and I am a firm believer of that. However, should we then make a fuss over something that isnt as big a problem to the profession than some other issues. Same No. |
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Re: Are doctors justified in striking in defence of their pensions?
posted at 12/5/2012 8:18 PM BST
on bmj.com
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Posts: 324
First: 23/12/2011 Last: 3/5/2013 |
And why are some people saying that they wouldnt like an older person treating them. Is that not getting into an almost ageist atitude that oh they are older therefore they must be out of touch of what is currently practiced. Doesnt seem quite right to me... Older=experienced Younger=arrogant and naive. |
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Re: Are doctors justified in striking in defence of their pensions?
posted at 13/5/2012 3:04 AM BST
on bmj.com
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Posts: 2947
First: 10/3/2009 Last: 29/4/2013 |
Agism. Rubbish. Work as long as you are able to do so. My father worked well til 78. There was an Australian back packer on our front page of our paper this week who was 95. A man in my sailing club sails single handed at 94. I don't get a pension. I must provide for myself. It is called private practice and I do research and teach medical students pro bono. I don't work in a sheltered workshop. |
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Re: Are doctors justified in striking in defence of their pensions?
posted at 13/5/2012 3:27 AM BST
on bmj.com
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Posts: 15
First: 1/5/2009 Last: 31/5/2012 |
No. Not ever. Physicians do not strike. We are professionals. I am American and don't have a contributory government managed pension aside from Social Security which I will be very lucky to see. My personal physician is 81 years old and sharp as a tack. He is an academic and still gets published in prestigious journals. I plan on not retiring unless I become physically or mentally unable to practice. I am now over 50 years old and feel great. I keep clinically current. I even make posts on my freindly Brit's Doc to Doc. My advice to you is do not lower yourselves to the level of a nonprofessional. The definition of a professional is one who places other's interests ahead of their own. Striking does not do. |
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Re: Are doctors justified in striking in defence of their pensions?
posted at 13/5/2012 9:50 AM BST
on bmj.com
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Posts: 2947
First: 10/3/2009 Last: 29/4/2013 |
I agree, Reikidoc. As for ageism;
I am 61 this year. I am learning fencing, learning Greek, sail and race my boat (won three races in the last year), read French (all my text books are in French and many of my journals), publish in international journals, teach medical students who stay with me one to one for a month and did 100 hours teaching last year, have learnt EBUS recently, and am the Vice-President of my son's school fencing club. I have published in three languages and more in the last ten years than in my 40's. I aint dead yet. I am a Foundation Member of doc2doc and have written more posts than anyone let alone anyone half my age. My cv is 19 pages long. My late father who worked as a GP til age 78 told me it is better to burn out than rust out. I belong to the local Norwegian Society with Norse next on my agenda. I know some but not enough. Sorry, retirement and pensions are not on my radar. As for striking....forget it. |
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Re: Are doctors justified in striking in defence of their pensions?
posted at 13/5/2012 3:10 PM BST
on bmj.com
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Posts: 1266
First: 13/4/2010 Last: 21/5/2013 |
Funny how some people on here are posting about an issue with which they have no direct involvement or knowledge. I respect their right to comment on the general prinicpal but that's as far as it goes. I only wished I lived in such a straight-forward black-and-white world as they. At the sake of being pedantic, let me re-iterate what I said above - this is not just about the significant devaluation of pensions - it's about much longer working; it's about the one-sided abandonment (without negotiation) of a mutually agreed arrangement made in 2008 which we were promised at the time would not be touched for close to a generation; it's about the fact that income for GPs has fallen by over 20% in 5 years whilst their costs of providing top notch primary care continue to rise; it's about the loss of merit awards (will GP seniority payments follow suit?); it's about 5 years of anti-doctor bias among politicians and in the media; it's about the imposition of a non-evidence-based system of revalidation which has at it's heart (in the form of multi-source feedback) a widely discredited system of evaluation; it's about an NHS bill which, at it's heart, seeks to shift the blame for the deficiencies in funding and service provision onto the shoulders of clinicians. Primary care in Scotland has become increasingly complex and demanding in under a decade. There has been a deliberate and cynical shifting of workload from secondary care to primary care without an accompanying shift of resources and without relevant professional support, training and development in primary care - we are just expected to get on with it. There has been a deliberate attempt by politicians, with the help of the press, to smear and diminish the medical profession in the eyes of the public - which has worked. We now have a consumerist, demand-driven public culture that is all about rights but doesn't give two figs about responsibility and which treats the NHS as though it were just a 24 hour Tesco or take-away. This is coupled with an encouragement by health managers no less for the public to complain about services and an increasingly irresponsible legal profession which has fuelled a culture of litigation against doctors. In the last three weeks alone two rural GPs in Scotland have taken their own lives such were the pressures placed upon them. Some people are going to be hammered by these changes - we are no talking about minor tweaks here - and many others find this the straw that breaks their back. They have a right to defend themselves within the law. Such is the joy of living in a democracy. Of course, the Government could impose "no industrial action" rules on doctors in the UK just as they do for the police and military but so far they have declined to do so. No-one in this dispute is calling for a strike. They are calling for industrial action. All emergecny care will be provided as normal and a "bank holiday" servcie will operate on any days of action. You may or may not agree with that course of action but those are the facts so let's stick to them please. |
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Re: Are doctors justified in striking in defence of their pensions?
posted at 13/5/2012 4:34 PM BST
on bmj.com
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Posts: 1285
First: 9/12/2011 Last: 22/5/2013 |
Well spoken Odysseus, My CV is around same length, and I plan to increase my Brain and wisdom more as I age. I presently program in three computer languages, and repair systems, and do numerous other things. DuaneF |
