Coronavirus - bring back retired GPs to deal with crisis ...

Some retired GP's may not be all that old.

I think some will be willing to volunteer.

are you going to volunteer to pick fruit and veg, perhaps?

Hi Jura2 I am already a volunteer with an organisation and, unless they close because of Coronavirus, I shall continue. I admit I'd be more worried if I had underlying health conditions.

There are a lot of retired hospital staff (or those who've found nicer jobs) who might step in if required. I don't see that more GPs will be needed, though. They'll do their very best to keep people with symptoms well away!

We have more than one retired GP here so we could always ask their opinion.

Hetty58 of course they want to keep people with symptoms away from the surgery, as they could infect other patients?

Tangering, fruit and veg comment was tongue and cheek. Good on you for volunteering - that is totally different from being volunteered- especially by a group of people who are seen as responsible for the demise of the NHS.

Anno- I was with several of them today- all agreed it was a ludicrous idea and that, having survived the work hours and stress in the past (oh yes, ye olde days when 140 hours was 'normal) - and almost lost their lives a couple of times due to above- going back in their 70s was just not going to happen.

but yes, of course, what do you GN retired GPs think?

Oh I think a lot of retired GP’s would want to help out in a national emergency jura nurses too.

At least here in the UK.....can’t speak for France or any other country.

I’ve worked for the NHS for many, many years - and unless the NHS makes it hugely worth their while my retired colleagues have no intention of coming back. Many of them have been retired for a number of years so would require upskilling and training, which all takes time.

That’s if their registration is still valid, of course...

Indeed- the GPs I've was talking to about the idea, were British retired GPs, not French or any other country.

Yes, and all of them are no longer registered, so could not work legally- as well as having heatlh conditions that would put them in the 'at most risk' category.

Exactly.

I wonder if Boris plans to bring pensioners out of retirement to deal with all national emergencies? If so, post Brexit there’s going to be a lot of very unhappy GNetters

Don’t make me laugh it’s hard enough to see a GP at all .

The GP’s that have retired (some very young) with their final salary pensions wouldn’t want to be involved. Why on earth would they?

Because it’s in the national interest, of course!

I wonder whether this additional (substantial) income would adversely affect their tax rate - anyone know? It probably wouldn’t be worth their while financially, even if it is for Queen and country.

I wonder if the Government is planning to meet the costs of retired doctors who return to practice because of coronavirus - courses to meet the Continuing Professional Development requirements, cost of registration with the GMC, and the requirement to have professional indemnity.
Probably not

If such a policy was adopted, ie bringing back retired medical staff to cope with an emergency, I imagine that very special conditions would apply.

A retired GP friend assures me they would have to make it well worth his while financially or he is not coming out of retirement, and of course that would include paying the ludicrous MDU insurance premiums.

But if you pay the retired ones more than the regular ones you can imagine what will happen......

My grandfather was an army officer who retired in 1937. When WW2 started he went straight back into service. His expertise on the transport and storage of ammunition was essential to the war effort. He was finally discharged in 1952 when he was 70.

Like the Oxford undergraduates who sometime in the 1930s voted that they would not fight for King and cuntry. I suspect that if there was an uncontrolled pandemic, many people would volunteer, who now say, they wouldn't

I suspect they wouldn’t - not in the numbers needed. Why on earth would they put themselves at risk for no financial reward? Let’s face it, the Tories aren’t exactly the NHS’s best friend - I imagine they wouldn’t exactly run to help them and rightly so. Reap/sow.

Trouble is, pension rules means it would cost any retired doctors ££££s to work. One reason for the shortage of consultants, cancellations of operations etc is that pension rules mean experienced doctors can’t do overtime without loosing money. Sounds ridiculous but it’s true. Not sure how the government would get round that one.

I’ve seen reference today to it being ‘newly retired’ medical staff, presumably those who still have their registration and so on. Thinking of such retired staff as I know, I actually can’t imagine they’d stand back and watch people dying when they could help. A bit like the old ‘Is there a doctor in the plane?’

The terms will need to be right, of course, but surely some temporary rules could be brought in for extraordinary times?

Doctors on aircraft are sometimes cautious to attend to sick passengers because their insurance wouldn't cover them and if something went wrong, they would be in the s**t.

SueDonim ??

In a national emergency I doubt that newly retired doctors would be as mercenary or selfish as many posters on here seem to think.