Following reports today hinting at a new NHS England scheme which could compensate hospital doctors who breach tax allowances, HCSA has issued the following statement.
HCSA spokesman Dr John West said: “It is a sign of the desperate situation we are in that only a few weeks after the government’s last package of changes and in the middle of a general election, we see news slipping out that cash will now be found to compensate doctors who breach tax thresholds this year.
“This really looks like policy-making on the hoof in the face of the looming winter crisis HCSA warned about months ago, and yet another workaround to a problem which was generated by the Treasury and can only be solved in the Treasury. For those doctors affected, it’s becoming hard to keep up with the proposals – the goalposts are constantly shifting.
“Until we see greater details it is hard to assess whether it holds up as a short-term measure. We can be certain, though, that the only real way to resolve the current crisis is to reform the tax allowance system which is pushing so many hospital doctors to cut back on work, and to face up in earnest to the medical understaffing it has so starkly exposed.”