Readers’ panel: Can staff delaying or coming out of retirement help solve the care crisis?
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Readers’ panel: Can staff delaying or coming out of retirement help solve the care crisis?

Liz Charalambous @lizcharalambou Assistant professor of nursing, University of Nottingham
Beverley Ramdeen @BeverleyRamdeen Senior lecturer in adult nursing, University of Hertfordshire
Jandryle Trondillo @jaytrondillo Care home manager, Bupa
Danny Shilling @STNDanny Third-year nursing student, Birmingham City University

Our experts consider a hot topic of the day

Nursing Standard. 37, 6, 12-12. doi: 10.7748/ns.37.6.12.s9

Published: 01 June 2022

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Picture credit: iStock

For more on this issue, see page 6 or go to rcni.com/delay-retirement

Readers’ panel members give their views in a personal capacity only


Older nurses undoubtedly bring important skills and experience to the team. If they are healthy, up to date and motivated to contribute to the workforce, I see no problem with the suggestion. However, I fear this is yet another government ‘quick fix’, designed to camouflage the recruitment and retention crisis. I also suspect many older nurses are tired and disillusioned after a lifetime of commitment and hard work, and looking forward to a rest.


The government plan to solve the patient care crisis with a retired nurse workforce seems to be another knee-jerk reaction – it may offer a quick fix, but is not sustainable. Instead, focus on improving recruitment and retention of staff is needed, along with beêr pay and hours, and time to aênd training. Retired nurses le? for a reason, such as suffering burn-out or struggling with work-life balance. Given that these problems still exist, why would they want to return?


Although not sustainable in the long- term, the plan to use retired nurses could address some workforce challenges. A staff nurse in my team moved to our bank after retirement to help us cover the odd shift. Residents and staff preferred this to using an unknown agency worker. Regardless, delaying retirement is an individual choice and employers should carefully appraise each individual. A better solution is a sustainable workforce model that encourages retention and entices people into nursing.


Bringing nurses out of retirement is a great idea on the face of it, but there is much to consider. How long have they been out of practice, what support will they need, how will they be assessed and, most importantly, do they want to return? If some require supervision, will this affect nursing students, whose access to practical experience must not be hindered further. Saying that, retired nurses’ experience and knowledge could prove invaluable to students.

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