Big increase in number of clinical staff retiring early

Rise coincides with board’s worsening finances

NHS Tayside has seen the biggest rise in clinical staff taking early retirement in the country, new figures show.

Seventy-five medical workers on the board’s frontline took the career decision in 2017-18, up from 24 seven years earlier.

The Lib Dems said the Scottish Government figures showed that undervalued staff are desperate to get out of Health Secretary Shona Robison’s NHS.

Alex Cole-Hamilton, the Scottish Liberal Democrats MSP who obtained the data, said: “These figures indicate that clinical staff are increasingly looking for an early exit, including in the health secretary’s own backyard, NHS Tayside.

“The SNP Government has relied on the goodwill of NHS staff to keep services going for too long.

“Staff are battling to stay on top of their workloads on every shift in the face of rising vacancies and increasing demand.”

The increase in retirees coincides with Tayside’s worsening finances over the past five years, although officials at the health board point out that service standards remain high.

Only Scotland’s largest health board Glasgow and Clyde had more clinical staff taking early retirement last year.

A Scottish Government spokesman said NHS staff numbers have increased by more than 13,000 to record levels, which is backed by record investment in NHS Scotland of £13 billion.

“There are a number of reasons why people may choose to take early retirement, or opt for more flexible working hours later in their working life,” the spokesman added.

“This flexibility allows NHS employees to balance work-life commitments as they get older.”

A spokeswoman for NHS Tayside said the number of clinical staff retiring is only 0.5% of its workforce and includes some who have retired due to ill-health.

“Health services across Tayside are constantly evolving and, with more than 14,000 members of staff, some fluctuations in our staff numbers are what we would expect to see,” she added.

“NHS Tayside takes the number of retirals into account as part of regular workforce planning.”

Picture: Kris Miller. A total of 75 medical workers on the board’s frontline took an early exit in 2017-18.