Scottish general practitioners' willingness to take part in a post-retirement retention scheme: questionnaire survey.

Concern is growing about a crisis in recruitment and retention in general practice in the United Kingdom. Although national statistics for Scotland show continued increases in the number of unrestricted general practitioner principals, the trend is slowing. More worryingly the numbers show a decrease in full time practitioners every year for the past 10 years. Large increases in the numbers of female doctors, who are more likely to have reduced working commitments, add to the crisis at a time when the demand for general practitioners is rising. There is evidence that general practitioners are retiring earlier, 4 and we therefore undertook a survey of all unrestricted principals over the age of 55 practising in Scotland, to investigate their intentions for retirement and assess their interest in a retention scheme along the lines of the retainer scheme for general practitioners.