ArticleBMJ open2017
Factors influencing the decisions of senior UK doctors to retire or remain in medicine: national surveys of the UK-trained medical graduates of 1974 and 1977.
Article in BMJ open, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Understanding why health professionals are leaving the UK national health service (NHS) - A systematic review and narrative synthesis.Journal of health services research & policy · 2026Pooled it
- Retired Orthopedic Surgeons' Reflections on Their Lives and Careers: A Cross-Sectional Study.HSS journal : the musculoskeletal journal of Hospital for Special Surgery · 2023Article
- Article
- Understanding the impact of professional motivation on the workforce crisis in medicine: a rapid review.BJGP open · 2021Article
- The characteristics and views of early retirees compared with doctors still in work: views of the UK -medical graduates of 1983 surveyed in 2016.Future healthcare journal · 2018Article
- Acceptability of a German multicentre healthcare research study: a survey of research personnels' attitudes, experiences and work load.BMJ open · 2018Observational
- Observational
- Retirement ages of senior UK doctors: national surveys of the medical graduates of 1974 and 1977.BMJ open · 2018Article
- Career specialty choices of UK medical graduates of 2015 compared with earlier cohorts: questionnaire surveys.Postgraduate medical journal · 2018Article
- Article
- Medical Decision-Making in the Physician Hierarchy: A Pilot Pedagogical Evaluation.Journal of medical education and curricular developmentArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo report attitudes to retirement of late-career doctors.
designQuestionnaires sent in 2014 to all UK medical graduates of 1974 and 1977.
settingUnited Kingdom.
participants3695 medical graduates.
main outcome measuresFactors which influenced doctors' decisions to retire and factors which encouraged doctors to remain in work.
resultsThe response rate was 85% (3695/4369). 55% of respondents overall were still working in medicine (whether they had not retired or had retired and returned; 61% of men, 43% of women). Of the retirees, 67% retired when they had originally planned to, and 28% had changed their retirement plans. Fifty per cent of retired doctors cited 'increased time for leisure/other interests' as a reason; 43% cited 'pressure of work'. Women (21%) were more likely than men (11%) to retire for family reasons. Women (27%) were more likely than men (9%) to retire because of the retirement of their spouse. General practitioners (GPs) were more likely than doctors in other specialties to cite 'pressure of work'. Anaesthetists and GPs were more likely than doctors in other specialties to cite the 'possibility of deteriorating skill/competence'. Radiologists, surgeons, obstetricians and gynaecologists, and anaesthetists were most likely to cite 'not wanting to do out-of-hours work'.Doctors who were still working were asked what would encourage them to stay in medicine for longer. Factors cited most frequently were 'reduced impact of work-related bureaucracy' (cited by 45%) and 'workload reduction/shorter hours' (42%). Men (30%) were more motivated than women (20%) by 'financial incentivisation'. Surgeons were most motivated by 'reduction of on-call or emergency commitments'.
conclusionsRetention policy should address ways of optimising the clinical contribution of senior doctors while offering reduced workloads in the areas of bureaucracy and working hours, particularly in respect of emergency commitments.
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