Labour would abolish the cap on doctors’ pensions, shadow health secretary Wes Streeting MP told The Telegraph.
Streeting told the paper: “I’m not pretending that doing away with the cap is a particularly progressive move. But it is one that sees patients seen faster, and will inevitably save lives. I’m just being hard-headed and pragmatic about this.”
He added that he believes abolishing the cap would reduce waiting lists and save lives by retaining disaffected doctors.
At the end of August BMA pensions expert Dr Tony Goldstone warned Liz Truss that the Government only had a month to solve the NHS pensions crisis.
Streeting praised the cost-effectiveness of primary care.
“Intervening early prevents conditions which might cost hundreds of pounds to address becoming problems which cost tens, if not hundreds, of thousands to treat,” he says. “We spend too much money in our hospitals or not enough in primary care. If we shifted that balance over time, patients would get a better experience, hospitals would face less pressure. We would save money.”
He also confirmed he was against user charging in the NHS.
Dr Richard Fieldhouse, NASGP chair, said: “Each person’s pension fund is their embodiment of a lifetime’s worth of delayed gratification. So any measures to motivate people towards this is to be welcomed, particularly when applied to us as GPs who are all acutely aware of the current strain on resources.
“Wes Streeting may not currently be in power, but there is hope that his sentiments will find some fertile ground amongst the Telegraph’s readership, to give us an extra thread of hope that the crazy situation regarding NHS pensions will soon be fixed.”