GP and dentist retirements 2019-2021: FOI release

Information requested

The following in relation to GP and dentist retirement figures:

1. The average age of GPs that have been retiring each year from 2019-2021
2. The average age that dentists have been retiring each year from 2019-2021
3. How many GPs have retired before their state retirement age each year from 2019-2021?
4. How many dentists have retired before their state retirement age each year from 2019-2021?
5. How many people have retired from an GP role in each year from 2019-2021?
6. How many people have retired from an dentist role in each year from 2019 2021?

Response

The information you have requested is provided as a digital file.

A similar FOI request was submitted in 2019 and the response is available here: GPs and dentists retirement numbers and ages: FOI release. I note that there is a discrepancy in the information provided as a response to your current request and the information provided in 2019.

The SPPA has reviewed the previous request and re-calculated the data based on current definitions and updated analysis techniques and wishes to provide a correction to the previous response to enable comparison. This is why the response to this request includes information about retirements from 2015- 2022.

Please note the following assumptions underpinning the response provided:

Retirement has been defined as a member moving to the pensioner status on the SPPA record.

State Pension Age: The value recorded on each member record has been used to calculate if retirement is before or after state pension age.

Employment field: There is not a specific label on our records that tells us if an NHS member is a general practitioner or dentist explicitly. In conducting this analysis, the following fields have been taken to correspond to General Practitioner:

• Locum Medical Practitioner
• Assistant Medical Practitioner
• Principle Medical Practitioner
• Locum Medical Practitioner - Care
• Assistant Medical Practitioner - Care
• Principle Medical Practitioner - Care

The following fields have been taken to correspond to Dentist:

• Assistant Dental Practitioner
• Principal Dental Practitioner
• Assistant Dental Practitioner - Care
• Principle Dental Practitioner - Care

The age for each member has been calculated using their date of birth and the date of retirement (as defined above). This was given as a whole number for each member by rounding down to the nearest year which was then used to calculate the average age of retirement for Dentists and GPs.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.

NHS Retirements 2015-2022 - Response

File type

Excel document

File size

14.4 kB