Sir, Andrew Moir is more than qualified to determine whether he is able to perform frontline surgery at 60 (letter, June 4). However, that doesn’t mean that there is not plenty of other essential work to be carried out in the NHS. His experience qualifies him to be of great value. Moreover, it is likely that the contributions that he and his NHS employer have made towards his final salary pension, taken from age 60, have covered less than half its real cost. The balance has to come from taxation, government borrowing, pay freezes or job cuts.
Jeff Townsley
Surbiton, Surrey
Sir, It is not only surgeons who are safer retiring at 60. As a physician I realised my ability to do mental calculations for such items as drug dosages began to decline in my late fifties.
Professor Peter D. O. Davies
Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital