Older doctors and retirement.

any older doctors work beyond the traditional retirement age of 65 and have no clear retirement plans, as disMcussed by Wijeratne and colleagues in this issue of the MJA.Yet it is alsoknownthat olderdoctors are at higher riskofpoor performance. The move towards revalidation, as being considered by the Medical Board of Australia (MBA), should be regarded as complementary to retirement planning, in that both involve components that need to start early in the doctor’s career. Successful retirement usually requires the doctor to have interests outside medicine, financial security, and good health, each of which should be developed during a long career. The trend to later retirementwas noted 15years ago. Since then, therehas been a further ageingof the medical workforce, and around 1700 employed doctors inAustralia are 75 or older, particularly in general practice, psychiatry, ophthalmology and general medicine. This delay in retirement is consistent with baby boomer trends in the general population.