British doctors are more likely than their counterparts in France and Germany to plan an earlier exit from medicine, according to Medscape Europe’s Retiring From Medicine Report 2025, raising concern that the National Health Service (NHS) could lose experienced physicians at a time it needs them the most.

Nearly 1 in 5 responding French and German physicians said they expect to work into their seventies. In contrast, British doctors were far more likely to picture an earlier exit: 32% said they expected to retire in their early sixties, and 15% hoped to leave medicine in their fifties. By comparison, only 3% of doctors in France and Germany said they expected to retire in their fifties.

The contrast matters because many European health systems are increasingly reliant on older physicians staying in practice for longer as they contend with workforce shortages and an aging medical workforce.

But with British doctors reporting earlier and more gradual exits from the profession, largely driven by burnout, the National Health Service might not be able to sustain capacity as well as countries like France and Germany where doctors expect to stay on longer.

“To see 59% of doctors respond to this survey by saying burnout is a reason for retiring in their early sixties is troubling,” Amit Kochhar, MD, chair of the British Medical Association representative body, recently told Medscape News UK. “With an NHS workforce already struggling under severe strain of understaffing, we can’t afford to lose these experienced professionals simply because the job no longer feels worth it.”

The survey drew responses from 1725 doctors in France, 1035 in Germany, and 799 in the UK. Across all three countries, the median respondent age group was 60-64 years.

An Aging Workforce Depends on Later Retirement

Medscape’s findings come as European health systems grapple with workforce shortages, rising demand, and an aging physician population.

In 2022, more than one third of Germany’s physician workforce was aged 55-64 years, while 12 EU countries reported that more than 40% of physicians were aged 55 years or older.

Against that backdrop, later retirement has become increasingly important to maintain health system capacity, said Gaetan Lafortune, MSc, senior health economist in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Health Division in Paris and author of Health at a Glance 2025.

He told Medscape News Europe that France and Germany are among countries seeing a growing number and share of doctors older than 65 years, while many OECD countries are adopting policies to encourage physicians to remain in practice beyond standard retirement age.

In France, the number of doctors older than 65 years rose by 60% over the past decade, Lafortune said. Over the same period, their share of the medical workforce increased from 13.4% to 16.2%.

“This rise has been one of the main drivers behind the increase in the overall number of doctors,” he said.

Lafortune said France has no maximum legal retirement age for self-employed doctors, who may continue practicing at 70 and beyond with approval from the medical order. Salaried physicians, mainly in hospitals, usually retire at 67, although recent reforms allow some to continue until 75.

“Flexible work-to-retirement arrangements can play a key role in retaining experienced doctors in the workforce for longer,” he said, adding that France has also encouraged doctors to remain in practice by allowing them to combine work and pension income.

The survey suggests German doctors may be especially comfortable with working later in life. They were the most likely of the three groups to say age itself is not the deciding factor in whether a doctor can still practice, and they gave the highest average age for being “too old” to practice medicine. German respondents were also the most likely to say they would stay connected to medicine after retirement by reading journals, following medical developments, or maintaining society memberships.

British doctors, meanwhile, appeared more emotionally conflicted about leaving. Nearly two thirds said they expected to lose part of their identity when they stepped away from medicine, a higher proportion than in France or Germany. British respondents were also more likely to anticipate feeling either happy or sad after leaving practice, suggesting a more emotionally charged break from the profession.

Later Retirement Is Not a Cure-All

Experts cautioned that later retirement alone will not solve Europe’s staffing crisis.

A 2025 joint policy from European medical organizations estimated a shortage of 1.2 million doctors and other healthcare professionals in Europe in 2022 and said that more than one third of doctors across EU countries will reach retirement age by 2030.

The policy called for “immediate and coordinated action,” saying that recruitment alone would not be enough without stronger retention efforts, better working conditions, burnout prevention, and more flexible working arrangements.

“The medical workforce is tired and disillusioned,” Alessandra Spedicato, LS in Medicine and Surgery, president of the European Federation of Salaried Doctors, told Medscape News Europe.

She said the survey’s findings on retirement expectations were consistent with a broader shift in attitudes toward medical work, especially among younger doctors.

“Younger generations no longer identify as strongly with the profession and generally do not want to work into advanced age,” she said. “There is a substantial gap in work approach between those over 50 and younger doctors.”

Spedicato added that specialty also shapes how long doctors can continue working in good health, with the physical and psychological burden of practice varying widely across the profession.

Even so, she said, many physicians still want to remain connected to medicine after retirement, whether through clinical, academic, or scientific work.

“Being a doctor requires a strong motivational component,” she said. “The white coat stays with you for life.”