Simon Read: Want the same deal? Try saving £2,000 a month

Anyone keen to have a similar pension payout to a doctor has a financial mountain to climb. Andrew Lansley suggests that newly qualified doctors today will be able to look forward to a pension of £68,000 a year when they retire at age 68.

If they choose to retire early – at age 65 – their annual pension income will be lower at £53,000, according to the Heath Secretary's predictions.

But number crunchers at Hargreaves Lansdown, a financial advice firm, have calculated an alarming prescription for a 26-year-old starting a pension today and hoping to match a doctor's payout.

They reckon the 26-year-old would need to salt away £1,870 a month into their retirement pot to hope to achieve a £68,000-a-year pension by the time they reach 68. That's based on annuity yields of about 3.46 per cent. The 26-year-old would need to have saved up £2m by the time they reach retirement age.