To ask what you'll be doing to avoid the Labour tax hikes

[OptimismvsRealism]

Pension contributions
Gift aid
Selling my shares now while CGT is relatively low

What really worries me is that all the professionals we actually need to want to be here will just fuck off elsewhere, though.

It's not like we're knee deep in hospital doctors.

No I don't think unusual. My dh gets private care via his job as a benefit. We couldn't afford to pay private health or school

The UK has consistently spent less on its health services than most other european countries, for decades, we then cut this funding in real terms drastically.
But not content with that, the Tories took away free tuition for healthcare staff, not just nurses, so now we have not just shortages in equipment, we have less Nurses, less Physio's, less OT's SALT's etc.

Now imagine you spent less on car mtce or on the up keep of your house than everyone else in your street?

What would eventually happen?

Its same with road mtce councils have funds cut, so less repairs and resurfacing = more potholes = more temp repairs = even more potholes etc.

Austerity is at the root cause of the UKs problems, combined with obsession with so called tax cuts but whats the point of slightly lower tax cuts if you then have to spend '000s on car repairs, health insurance and private education? and what about all those that cannot afford these things?

Sounds like the Brits then - from a Swiss who has been living in the UK for years. I have created friendships here with many people, mostly other immigrants.

Back the main topic: as a household we earn around 400k but this is almost halved after tax. In other countries (France for ex) we would pay way less tax as we have two DC, I’m always surprised this isn’t accounted for here.
We are in the process of closing a ltd company in case they decide to increase tax paid on profits when you close it. After that we are seriously looking at what we could earn in a few countries (France, Switzerland, Singapore).

@Ivytheterrible Pulling up the drawbridge? Like my Labour MP who attended 3 private schools and is now kicking away the ladder for others?

That was his parents' choice. Are you suggesting that he should sustain all the values that his parents subscribed to? Do you? I mean, perhaps you do - but it's not obligatory.

I have lived and worked in the UK, Ireland, France, Switzerland and the USA. I couldn't say one was better than the other on all fronts. Some may have better health care, others working conditions, others education offer, etc. For every country, you'd have to weigh the pros and cons. As it stands, Britain offers what we need the most ( factoring possible tax increases) so we are staying put.

Point 1 is a a terrible, terrible idea. Most hospitals are already going to electronic prescribing which removes issues with legibility and tracking who gave what meds when. Going backwards to bits of cardboard would be utter madness. Some meds are more important than others. Miss your vit D supplement? doesn't matter. Miss your Parkinson's meds or have them given late? Serious potential medical consequences.

I earn minimum wage, I am passed caring any more

@Lms63738 is absolutely correctly actually, the UK has a meanness to it, that I’ve never experienced anywhere else, something inherently toxic about trying to pull other down. There is a pettiness which is quite unbecoming really. Small and mean, and usually it’s seen across the certain groups, greed and scarcity mindset spring to mind.

But generally speaking that isn't coming from those at the bottom of the pile. Not in my experience anyway. It's some (and please note I said some) of those who consider themselves part of the 'squeezed middle' that most seem to resent the fact that our tax system is partly set up to help those less fortunate than themselves, and to assume the less fortunate don't actually want to work/contribute/improve their lot. The crabs being kicked back down to the bottom by those above them, if you like.

Yes that is very fair to say, although the tax system isn’t really set up to benefit those ‘at the bottom’ or they wouldn’t be so despondent /struggling so much. I think it’s mostly some of those who are ‘aspirational’ who resent their lot in life and don’t want to see anyone doing reasonable ok, or better than them, any interactions with these sort of people is always fraught with underlying resentment and obstruction. Harsh I know but just based on more than several experiences. It’s inherent.

what is it, comparison is the thief of joy and all that.

Ask reform voters.

What does reform have to do with labours budget?

@Quodraceratops I had sepsis and fell between the cracks. Their lack of a system could have killed me.

You were asking what it was like to be naive and deluded.

No, I wasn’t you have the wrong poster , but still my question stands

I’m a hospital consultant. Full-time NHS. I will not be moving anywhere. My friends who are doctors across all specialities are not moving anywhere.

The only thing I would say is that the junior doctors are definitely leaving medicine or moving abroad. With fewer doctors in training, there eventually will be fewer consultants. And this will then definitely affect private healthcare too. It is largely the same pool of doctors. If we do not have NHS-trained doctors, they will also not be entering private healthcare. Private healthcare will only be a safety net for a few more years.

All the more reason to leave, healthcare across the board in the UK is hit and miss and I say that about both private and NHS. Caveat, my NHS GP surgery is great and the GPs bar one who I feel shouldn’t be client facing without a chaperone, are lovely, kind and compassionate. We even have lovely receptionists too 😁who will always try and accommodate no matter what the requirements are, ie the will not block access by trying to triage anything on the phone. I don’t count myself lucky as this is how it used to be many moons ago!

Private healthcare is even more old school, as many take the approach physicians used to which I don’t find with the NHS, pathway says no, bye bye back to square one.

Me too. The Tories pretend we can have the NHS etc without paying for it.

We need to pay for a decent health service, benefits, education, etc. I often see people on here complaining about all these things. They have to be paid for.

I am full-time NHS but often get asked by people if I do private work. I then look through all the private clinics in London for colleagues I might recommend. So few of the colleagues I respect work in private medicine. And I have seen so many dodgy ones who we have not kept on in our trust, now working in the private sector and charging hundreds.

It makes me so angry and concerned. Of course a handful of great colleagues do some private work and those are the ones I recommend to friends. But I do worry a lot about the service offered by some
private consultants.

So true, they take the address in a tiny space somewhere which will give credibility, charge the earth and are nowhere as competent as their NHS counterparts. Some not all, because the ones that are fantastic really are lifesavers when it comes to complex issues for which treatment isn’t available on the NHS and should be.

You cannot fault the NHS for the two week cancer pathway either. Its so unfortunate because I don’t believe in two tier healthcare but it’s become necessary

And I’m glad you will stay, we need more consultants like you

Thank you for staying @ClockBotching.

There isn’t a question in the post I replied to.

Thank you. It is interesting how much pressure I have had to do private work. But I actually do really like my work and find it so rewarding. I am lucky as I think I am well-paid and get to do a useful job. And I have brilliant colleagues of all disciplines.

I am not enjoying being perimenopausal and working at the moment, but I live in hope that things will improve (both in the NHS and with my symptoms!)

It is really worrying though. We had a locum doctor staff grade and had so many complaints about him from patients. We did not renew his contract and told the locum agency. A colleague a few months later send me a link of his Harley St address and how he was charging £850 for a two hour assessment and report.