Not just doctors

Dr Cameron (Letters, 1 June) fails to recognise that the very pension changes that doctors are protesting against affect all NHS staff, from healthcare assistants and porters, to nurses and consultants.

The BMA is calling on the UK government to return to meaningful negotiations with all health trade unions which have each expressed their concerns about the planned changes to pensions which will see all staff having to work longer and, for many, pay significantly more into their pension scheme than other public sector workers.

Doctors do not deny that they receive a good pension; what they object to is the fact that the government has ripped up an agreement on pension reform that was negotiated and agreed in 2008 and which delivers a surplus to the Treasury to the tune of more than £2 billion per year.

(Dr) Brian Keighley

BMA Scotland

Queen Street

Edinburgh

Dr John Cameron is correct to criticise doctors for their greed. They should remember that those who bite the hand that feeds them eventually have to lick the boot that kicks them.

Malcolm Parkin

Gamekeepers Road

Kinnesswood, Kinross

For the sake of clarity, should the British Medical Association be rebranded as the National Union of Doctors?

Richard Lucas

Broomyknowe

Edinburgh

It seems to me that GPs aren’t really getting their money’s worth out of their public relations advisers at the moment.

In this country most people who work in the private sector have a – no doubt inaccurate – view that everyone else is lazy, over-paid and under-worked, and GPs have somehow been lumped in to this group of late.

While it is of course true that GPs earn a decent wage and get a decent pension, let’s not forget how much they have sacrificed to get to where they are. It takes a lot of brains, training and commitment to become a GP. We shouldn’t take them for granted.

MARTIN L SOAMES

Dalry Road

Edinburgh