WHEN there is such a crisis in NHS staffing, would it not be possible to persuade some doctors and nurses who have retired early to come back on a temporary basis?

I realise that most might be reluctant to volunteer to do this as I assume that they would lose an element of their pension if doing more than a minimum amount of time.

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Would it not therefore be worth waiving this particular condition to allow any such volunteers to continue receipt of their pension intact, while on a short-term, temporary contract to ease this crisis? After all, there is no prospect of conjuring trained personnel instantly out of thin air, and the temporary salaries would be coming from a different budget – a good use of some of the money supposedly being thrown at the NHS – without affecting the pension funds.

Incidentally, do MPs who retire on a substantial pension lose a proportion of it if they take on several speaking jobs or directorships etc worth thousands, or even millions? Just asking, as we are all in this together.

P Davidson
Falkirk