Ill-health retirement at a health agency between 1991 and 1994

To describe factors related to the process of ill-health retirement (IHR) among employees of three hospital trusts.

A descriptive study was carried out at a health agency on retirements recorded by the management due to ill-health between 1991 and 1994. Relevant data were extracted from records maintained in the occupational health department.

Among the 339 retirements recorded by the management as due to ill-health, 100 (29.5%) records could not be retrieved. Of the 239 records available for analysis, information regarding full- or part-time work was available for 164 (69%) employees. Further information from the individual's general practitioner or specialist was obtained for 106 (44%) employees and redeployment considered for 52 (22%) employees. The total number of employees who were recommended IHR was 125 (52%). One hundred and forty of the cases reported 220 disease conditions at pre-employment while 170 (71%) cases reported 229 disease conditions at retirement. In 37 (15.5%) the disease condition that led to retirement was the same as that at pre-employment. The commonest of these were musculoskeletal (46%; 17/37) and psychiatric (11%; 4/37) disorders. Twenty-one percent of all the retirements were due to work-related conditions. The time taken to arrive at the decision of IHR was more than 1 year for 20 (8%) employees.

This study found that many aspects of the IHR process did not meet the current suggested standards.