(Press-News.org) Increasing numbers of doctors are opting to take voluntary early retirement, rather than waiting to claim their pension at retirement age, official figures show.
Figures provided to The BMJ by the NHS Business Services Authority under a freedom of information request show that the number of GPs and hospital doctors in England and Wales opting for voluntary early retirement has increased by an average of 9.3% year on year, rising from 376 in 2008 to 1424 in 2023.
Over the same period, the number retiring on the basis of age has fallen, from 2030 in 2008 to 1721 in 2023.
The rise in early retirement was seen for hospital doctors and GPs. The number of hospital doctors retiring early rose from 178 in 2008 to 557 in 2023, while the number of GPs doing so rose from 198 in 2008 to 867 in 2023.
Overall, the total number of doctors retiring has risen by 35% over the past 15 years, from 2431 in 2008 to 3277 in 2023.
Over the same timeframe, the total number of doctors employed by the NHS in England and Wales has increased by 27%, from 141,000 in 2008 to 179,000 in 2023.
The figures relate to doctors who claimed their NHS pension in a specific pension year, some of whom may have returned to work in the NHS in other roles after claiming their pensions.
Vishal Sharma, chair of the BMA Consultants Committee and pensions committee, said that the data on retirement backed up what the BMA had been saying for many years about the premature loss of vital clinical expertise from the NHS.
He told The BMJ: “Whether through reduced hours or retirement, the loss of expertise of our most senior doctors—whether in hospitals or GP practices—is a huge loss for patients, colleagues, and the future of the NHS.”
The data trend coincided with the introduction of pension taxation rules that penalised doctors for doing more hours or staying in work, he pointed out.
Sarah Tennant, chair of the pension committee of the hospital doctors’ union HCSA, added: “Substantial erosion of doctors’ pay over the past decade further incentivises them to lock in their benefits because, unlike pay, pensions in payment are inflation linked. Pensions tax has been a significant and increasing cause of early retirement among senior doctors, and we fear it will remain so, due to continued uncertainty.”
END
More doctors in England and Wales choosing to retire early
Number of GPs and hospital doctors opting for voluntary early retirement has increased by an average of 9%+ a year since 2008
2023-06-29
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Opioids no more effective than placebo for acute back and neck pain
2023-06-29
Opioid pain-relieving medicines are not more effective than a placebo in relieving acute back and neck pain and may even cause harm, according to a world-first trial led by the University of Sydney.
The researchers say this is proof that treatment guidelines should be updated to advise against the use of opioids for this purpose.
Over 577 million people worldwide experience low back and neck pain at any one time.
Despite a global push to reduce the use of opioids, in Australia approximately 40 to 70 percent of those who present with neck and back complaints are prescribed opioids for their pain.
The OPAL trial recruited close ...
Vitamin D supplements may reduce risk of serious cardiovascular events in older people
2023-06-29
Vitamin D supplements may reduce the risk of major cardiovascular events such as heart attacks among people aged over 60, finds a clinical trial published by The BMJ today.
The researchers stress that the absolute risk difference was small, but say this is the largest trial of its kind to date, and further evaluation is warranted, particularly in people taking statins or other cardiovascular disease drugs.
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a general term for conditions affecting the heart or blood vessels and is one of the main causes of death globally. CVD events such as heart attacks and strokes are set to increase as populations continue ...
AI tool could speed up dementia diagnosis
2023-06-29
A new AI tool that could help doctors assess the early signs of dementia and Alzheimer’s more quickly and efficiently, has been developed by researchers at the University of Sheffield.
The system, known as CognoSpeak, uses a virtual agent displayed on a screen to engage a patient in a conversation. It asks memory-probing questions inspired by those used in outpatient consultations and conducts cognitive tests, such as picture descriptions and verbal fluency tests.
The tool then uses artificial intelligence and speech technology to analyse language and speech patterns to look for signs of dementia, Alzheimer’s disease and other memory ...
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai researchers awarded $15.1 million grant to explore immune rejection of transplanted organs
2023-06-28
New York, NY (June 28, 2023)–Striving to improve organ transplant survival rates, internationally renowned researchers in immunology and bioengineering at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have received $15.1 million from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) to lead a novel, five-year multi-center research program that will explore trained immunity—the innate immune system’s ability to remember infections and other insults—as a target for preventing organ transplant rejection.
Each ...
Zapping municipal waste helps recover valuable phosphorus fertilizer
2023-06-28
One of humankind’s most precious fertilizers is slipping away.
Phosphorus, which today comes mostly from nonrenewable reserves of phosphate rock, typically winds up in municipal waste streams. In the best cases, wastewater treatment plants sequester about 90% of that phosphorus in “sludge” and decompose that sludge into something known as digestate. Engineers hope to establish a more sustainable cycle for reusing phosphorus, but toxic compounds in digestate limit the possibility of recycling it as fertilizer — it’s hard to recover phosphorus from solid waste like digestate.
“Existing ...
For type 2 diabetics who exercise, some approaches are better than others
2023-06-28
An analysis on the positive effects of exercise on blood sugar levels in people with Type 2 diabetes shows that while all exercise helps, certain activities – and their timing – are extremely good for people’s health.
The study, published in The American Journal of Medicine, provides a comprehensive but straightforward summary of the benefits of exercise on controlling blood glucose levels in people with Type 2 diabetes.
“The challenge with this is that most, if not all, people know exercise is good for them but they don’t know the best approach,” said Steven Malin, an associate professor in the Department of Kinesiology and Health at the Rutgers ...
Bjornsti begins her term as president of FASEB
2023-06-28
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Mary-Ann Bjornsti, Ph.D., professor and former chair of the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, begins her term July 1 as president of the largest coalition of biological and biomedical research associations in the United States, the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, also known as FASEB.
Bjornsti, the Newman H. Waters Chair of Clinical Pharmacology, has served as associate director for Translational Research at the O’Neal ...
Population Council joins feminist partners to advance gender equality and equity at Women Deliver 2023
2023-06-28
June 28, 2023—Population Council experts and our partners at Women Deliver (WD2023) in Kigali, Rwanda will share how we can collectively build evidence-based solutions to achieve gender equality and equity. The Council will lead the Girls Deliver: Pre-Conference on Adolescent Girls and key high-profile events on the sidelines of WD2030 to advance global discourse of the linkages between gender equality with pressing issues such as adolescents, education, and climate.
“The Council is thrilled to collaborate with youth, global activist, feminist, political, and research leaders to cultivate an ecosystem ...
New drug application doubles rates of remission in patients with Ulcerative Colitis
2023-06-28
A new drug, investigated by Amsterdam UMC together with colleagues around the world, is effective as a treatment against ulcerative colitis. With the clinical trial demonstrating a doubling in the rates of remission, to up to 50%, in certain groups. The results of this clinical trial are, today, published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Around the world, it is estimated that millions live with ulcerative colitis, a condition that is only growing in prevalence. Geert D’Haens, lead author and Professor of Gastroenterology at Amsterdam UMC, says “there is still a high unmet need for safe and effective treatments for ulcerative colitis. This new medicine meets this ...
New approach in cancer therapy with innovative mechanism-of-action for ferroptosis induction
2023-06-28
A team of researchers led by Dr. Marcus Conrad from Helmholtz Munich discovered a novel anti-cancer drug, called icFSP1, which sensitizes cancer cells to ferroptosis. Ferroptosis is characterized by the iron-dependent oxidative destruction of cellular membranes, which is counteracted by ferroptosis suppressor protein-1 (FSP1), one of the guardians of ferroptosis. Although FSP1 has been considered as an attractive drug target for cancer therapy, in vivo efficacious FSP1 inhibitors have been lacking. To this end, the team carefully evaluated hits from a screen of around ten thousand small molecule compounds and identified icFSP1 as a new in vivo effective drug. Importantly, the team ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
Scientists to ‘spy’ on cancer- immune cell interactions using quantum technology breakthrough
Tech savvy users have most digital concerns
Making lighter work of calculating fluid and heat flow
Normalizing blood sugar can halve heart attack risk
Lowering blood sugar cuts heart attack risk in people with prediabetes
Study links genetic variants to risk of blinding eye disease in premature infants
Non-opioid ‘pain sponge’ therapy halts cartilage degeneration and relieves chronic pain
AI can pick up cultural values by mimicking how kids learn
China’s ecological redlines offer fast track to 30 x 30 global conservation goal
Invisible indoor threats: emerging household contaminants and their growing risks to human health
Adding antibody treatment to chemo boosts outcomes for children with rare cancer
Germline pathogenic variants among women without a history of breast cancer
Tanning beds triple melanoma risk, potentially causing broad DNA damage
Unique bond identified as key to viral infection speed
Indoor tanning makes youthful skin much older on a genetic level
Mouse model sheds new light on the causes and potential solutions to human GI problems linked to muscular dystrophy
The Journal of Nuclear Medicine ahead-of-print tip sheet: December 12, 2025
Smarter tools for peering into the microscopic world
Applications open for funding to conduct research in the Kinsey Institute archives
Global measure underestimates the severity of food insecurity
Child survivors of critical illness are missing out on timely follow up care
Risk-based vs annual breast cancer screening / the WISDOM randomized clinical trial
University of Toronto launches Electric Vehicle Innovation Ontario to accelerate advanced EV technologies and build Canada’s innovation advantage
Early relapse predicts poor outcomes in aggressive blood cancer
American College of Lifestyle Medicine applauds two CMS models aligned with lifestyle medicine practice and reimbursement
Clinical trial finds cannabis use not a barrier to quitting nicotine vaping
Supplemental nutrition assistance program policies and food insecurity
Switching immune cells to “night mode” could limit damage after a heart attack, study suggests
URI-based Global RIghts Project report spotlights continued troubling trends in worldwide inhumane treatment
Neutrophils are less aggressive at night, explaining why nighttime heart attacks cause less damage than daytime events
[Press-News.org] More doctors in England and Wales choosing to retire earlyNumber of GPs and hospital doctors opting for voluntary early retirement has increased by an average of 9%+ a year since 2008