jonsol

I would not want to see a doctor who has been on duty 24 hours ! ! !

Bigger Jim

For what its worth. The ex-RAF guy in the programme who put in 35 years in the RAF, still pays income tax in the UK whether or not he is resident in Spain and is NOT entitled to NHS treatment until, if and when ,he re-establishes residency in the UK (3 to 6 months).

Like most people who retire to Spain he helped to build the NHS. He retired to Spain to, " Spend his golden years in the sun", quote from an Commissiom document on driving your car anywhere in the EU.

Jim

poollounger

Well my understanding is that you cannot be required to pay tax twice on income received in any EU country that is a signatory to the double taxation agreement. When I worked in Frankfurt some years ago my acccountant set tax deducted against my bill in Britain. The inspector said that it was my responsiblity to claim the German tax back. He informed her that she must surely be joking and pointed her in the direction of the relevant rules...and this was from an inspector !! The RAF guy should be allowed to pay his tax in Spain and this should give him free health treatment indefinitely.
I know it seems unfair, but imagine if all the many people who have chosen to live abroad still wanted to return to Britain everytime they had a major illness on the grounds that they had once contributed .. wouldn't it strain the NHS even further ??

What is needed is an even ruling throughout the EU. However there would then always between an imbalance between the more developed countries and,say,those in Eastern Europe.

Pl

Bigger Jim

My error, should have mentioned that he will be in receipt of a service pension that is taxed in the UK. While this can be offset if you have a separate source of income in Spain, if you have not - tough, its just spent as Gordon wishes which includes the NHS.

But thats life.

Jim

susique

Hi Poollounger,

If all these people who retired to Spain and elsewhere had stayed in the UK, they would be entitled to care under the NHS. So by living abroad and probably paying for a lot of minor care anyway, surely they are actually taking some strain off the NHS?

What is putting the most strain on the NHS, iis the unrestricted influx of people from all over, flooding into UK with several children, who then enjoy the benefits of free schooling, housing and health care, which was paid for by the people like those in Spain who just wanted to retire somewhere warm.

poollounger

This is a tricky one Susique and depends on whether one considers the payment of NI to be cumulative or current. With private healthcare we get the benefits while we keep paying the premiums, this ceases the moment we stop paying. The NHS operates in a similar fashion, as we are deemed to be paying in one way or another, depending on how we are employed, or not as the case may be. Pensions are always cumulative. The argument about paying all one's life is interpreted by people in many ways. I know of a woman who chose to have several children as a single parent, all supported by the state, on the reasoning that her father died too early to draw his pension and therefore she was entitled to it in one way or another!!
I agree that if one is continuing to pay income tax and NI pre or post retirement then one should be able to claim healthcare or benefits if neccessary on returning to live in Britain. One can alway be treated as a visitor during the brief qualifying period under existing legislation.
I think where the real injustice lies is in the people who are paying their taxes in Spain but do not qualify for healthcare, as I understand it. If they retired to Spain they are entitled to free healthcare if they are of pensionable age. It really isn't as clear cut and simple as we would like it to be.

crispy

Hi Jonsol

Have you never been to A&E back in the UK, if these doctors are not working 24 hour shifts now it is because it has changed recently; when I first started in the NHS it was nothing for staff to work these shifts.

In pathology we have "on-call" this is where one person would start their shift at 9am in the morning and finish at 1230 the following lunch time. These are the people who analyze your pathology samples, thousand of samples day in day out often working through the night on their own operating machinery. Where is healthy and safety when you need them. Now things have changed no more 24 hour shifts for them, no they only have to work 16 hours now and they get one other person to help them, oh how I miss work

mikelincs

Still was 24 hours when I last worked the on call rota in 2005, and no-one to help them, but at least they did provide a room where you could sleep ... ha ha.. and hadn't changed last time I was in touch with any of them left in Scunthorpe.

crispy

The powers that be took the bed away and replaced it with an armchair, can you imagine the response to that, but working in a large London teaching hospital which then become one of the biggest Trusts (if not the biggest) there wasn't much opportunity for resting. Oh those were the days!