Calls to give doctors encouragement to stay in work until retirement age
Just 2.8% of practitioners remained in their jobs until state pension age since 2015
The Health Secretary is being urged to set up an initiative to encourage doctors to stay on until retirement age, as more than 2,000 stepped back early in the last nine years.
Just 2.8% of practitioners who have retired since 2015 waited until state pension age to do so, according to figures from the Scottish Liberal Democrats.
In 2015, 185 medics retired early, compared to a high of 309 in 2023, which Lib Dem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said should send “alarm bells” ringing.
He added: “When the equivalent of one in seven Scots is on an NHS waiting list, alarm bells should be going off in the Health Secretary's office.
"Everyone should be able to rely on swift and reliable care close to home, but a shortage of experienced staff is creating stress for medics and pain for patients.
"Part of the solution lies in recruiting new staff, but many of these will take years to train. The Scottish Government should be doing far more to encourage the experienced and talented medics leaving the profession early each year to stay on.”
Mr Cole-Hamilton suggested offering people a wider range of diagnosis, treatment and follow-up care by including more nurse, dieticians and physiotherapists in community care.
He said: "This would reduce the burden on specialist practitioners, allow them to focus on the most complex cases and encourage experienced professionals to stay."
BMA Scotland chairman, Dr Iain Kennedy, said: “These figures are illustrative of the warnings we have been making for some considerable time that Scotland is risking losing senior doctors far too early at a time when its NHS can least afford it.
"Let's be clear, our NHS is on its knees. Our members tell us that many of the senior doctors who worked tirelessly and selflessly to get the country through the pandemic are now saying enough is enough.
"They are not just exhausted by ever increasing demands and poor work-life balance, but by a feeling of constantly being devalued - whether that be through punitive pension taxation, poor pay rises, or the recently announced income tax rise that will again reduce take home pay and remove any incentives to do overtime."
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: "Our workforce in NHS Scotland is its most important and highly valued asset. Recognising this, our consultant staff remain the best paid in the UK, and the recent 6% pay award means they will see salaries increases of between £5,488 and £7,292.
"Due to the meaningful engagement we have had with trade unions, Scotland is the only part of the UK to avoid NHS strikes.
"There has been a 67.6% increase in the number of NHS medical and dental consultants in Scotland since September 2006, and we are constantly looking at ways to enhance staffing levels and support workforce wellbeing, including creating 725 additional places for trainee doctors since 2014.
"In August 2022, The Improving Medical Retention Advisory Group produced a report and recommendations focused on improving the retention of consultants at the latter stages of their careers, across the peri-retirement phase. Following this we have implemented a national Retire and Return policy."