• Fay Smith, Shelly Lachish, Michael J Goldacre, and Trevor W Lambert.
• UK Medical Careers Research Group, Unit of Health-Care Epidemiology, Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
• BMJ Open. 2017 Oct 31; 7 (9): e017650.

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.© Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2017. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

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