To think I can't keep this up till 67?

[GodImTired]

I' work in acute paediatrics in the NHS. We work 13 1/2 hour shifts with usually only 3/4 of an hour for break. I have a step counter and average 13500 steps on every shift sometimes nearly 20000. It's a mentally demanding job we are constantly under staffed and we are increasingly seeing more and more exceedingly unwell children. Our doctors are also stretched to their full capacity. I and nearly all my colleagues go above and beyond what we're meant to do for both the children in our care and their parents we know this as we frequently receive verbal and written comment to this effect. But we also receive endless trivial complaints about the food, the view out the hospital window, and other which are demoralising.
At the end of many shifts I'm mentally as well as physically drained.
I'm 51 due to time out to bring up my children I haven't paid enough pension to retire early so will work till 67. I'm increasingly thinking that this won't be physically or mentally possible. Also the NHS is literally falling to pieces I started nursing over 30 years ago I cannot believe it's got this bad. But I love my job have tried less demanding areas and hate it.
I'm aware it's not just nurses who are struggling many others in other occupations particularly the public sector must feel the same. What are we all going to do? Many are my age are leaving in droves pension or no pension. Are the jobs we love and feel passionately about eventually just going to wear us down? What are we going to do? Or AIBU should I thank my lucky stars I have a job hopefully till 67 (that's what are management tell us).

You have a long time still to work. Have you thought about a specialist role (Paediatric Diabetes nurse, Cancer specialist, school nursing etc) where you would work roughly office hours and have some time sitting driving or in meetings or on a computer?
I know that I would not be able to keep up the physical demands of your current job at 67.

Grays my job isn't horrendous tbh - I'm kind of an expert in my field, which gives me a lot of autonomy. I guess what I'm saying is that if - as a reasonably fit 50 something wih good employment conditions - I'm already aware of decreasing effectiveness, then it's going to be a far bigger issue for many people who work past 60.

It will require a different employment model where older employees are parked somewhere they can't do too much damage to themselves or others. From my perspective (ive never worked in the public sector) far too many older people in management hang on until they are well past their sell-by date and they only get moved on when it becomes obvious that they are becoming a liability or an embarrassment.

Note that I'm not saying that older employees can't be productive or valuable, but that both they and their employers are going to have to recognise their limitations.

My mum was born in 54 so while she spent the majority of her working life thinking she'd retire at 60 they've added 6 or 7 years to her working life. She's not a well woman, parties a bit too hard too and I hate to say it but I worry she won't make 65 let alone 67. She's in her 60s now and is still sought after in her field of work having reached the top of the field but she's tired and spends a lot of her free time caring for her elderly father. It seems so unfair that she's dedicated her life to the public, saves the govt money as a carer and still the govt have screwed her and thousands of others over.
If we have billions to spare for trident and vanity train sets and 11% pay rises for MPs then we have plenty for people to retire at a reasonable age.

I think many people can cope mentally at 67 its the physical energy that's the problem. I see no reason to "park" over 60s somewhere where they can do no damage. I've met' know it all', crap managers who are 50. It depends on the individual and there is a lot of variation but a majority of over 60s may start finding a physically demanding job too much of a challenge.

OP you need to work backwards. You need to plan for retirement. If you can afford a drop in income by reducing your hours, moving jobs or even stopping working early, these are your options. You might find that you could retire at 60 for example, and work in a shop, a garden centre, a care home- anything to bring in some income until you are 67. It depends on your financial situation. Plenty of places employ older people.

DH has a company pension . He is eligible for it now at almost 62 (with permission to retire early) but looking at the figures, we've decided he will carry on for a year or two longer then maybe go part time. I am self employed and don't intend to stop earning until at least the time he does. I already have a small pension from when I was teaching, but it is small as I was part time.

Basically, you need to decide what matters most- job satisfaction, your health and stamina to do that, and your income requirements.

It's going to be the norm to change careers sometimes several times in a lifetime as people live longer. If the job someone does is too arduous the alternative is early retirement on less money and / or other work that will bridge the gap between what you need to live on and your pension age.

There simply aren't enough desk jobs or specialist roles to go around for all the over 55s to do.
There is no way I could do what O do beyond then. And no idea what will happen.

If we have billions to spare for trident and vanity train sets and 11% pay rises for MPs then we have plenty for people to retire at a reasonable age.

Errr no. The people who are paying for pensions are the young who are starting work. Pension increases for the entire population over 67 would cost a heck of a lot more than the examples you give.

No one seems to be thinking of being self employed. Why not? A friend of mine (with a PhD) is just completing her MA in psychotherapy and about to start work as a counsellor- at 66- after spending time in another career where she was made redundant, then took a far lesser paid job to pay the bills.

I feel your pain OP and I'm 'only' 46. I'm a theatre nurse so literally on my feet all day. We also have an awful lot of manual handling and the average BMI of our patients is rapidly increasing. Many of my colleagues have physical damage and limititations. Our job requires enormous amounts of concentration. Will I still be physically and mentally able at 67+....?

There simply aren't enough desk jobs or specialist roles to go around for all the over 55s to do.

Where is your evidence for this? It's not true.

Full sympathy here. I'm a teacher and will also have to work til 67.
(Early Years so also on my feet all day - very physical job, although yours sounds worse OP).
My parents died aged 68 & 65 respectively, so tbh i doubt i'll even make to 67 . I'll have worked all those years for a pension i'll probably never receive! Ah the joys of public sector.

YANBU OP. I'm in exactly the same boat as you. (Neonatal Nurse) can't see me retiring until I'm late 60's but as you say the work load is so hard. 12 hour nights, 13 hour days. I'm totally drained after a shift!
I don't know what the answer is.
A few of the older nurses at work have 'retired' and come back and do NHSP shifts as and when they want which seems to suit, but I don't know.....

I am a manager. We have had staff working till 65 who were really not up to it in their last few years of work. Although people are living longer, they are often living longer with lots of health problems. And those who are least likely to get jobs statistically, are unemployed women aged over 60. I suspect the unemployment rate for this age group will simply continually rise over the next few decades.
I am 51 and already have mobility problems.

Libitian why won't you consider leaving that role if it gets too much and doing something else until you can claim your pension?

I don't understand the dilemma really- either keep going or if you can't, find something else to do.

People can't expect work to adapt to their needs.

This thread is incredibly depressing.

I'm 61 and on my 3rd career. I feel about 40 in my head and am fit. I am dismayed of all the posts here writing-off the over 60s as if we are decrepit.
60- 65 is NOT old and we all have responsibility to try to stay fit so we can work.

What about primary care? Lots of practices love recruiting nurses with expertise and are happy to provide in-house training. And you don't have to work in a conventional practice - there is a lot of demand for paeds training in urgent care centre, MIUs etc.

It is not an easy option - despite what the Daily Mail would have you believe about general practice . I worked in PICU and the ED for a long time and would say primary care is just as mentally challenging. However, it is less physically exhausting as you get to sit down a lot more (I instantly put on half a stone ) and in many jobs you don't have to work nights.

And those talking about early retirement are living in cloud cuckoo land. The OP can not retire early without the agreement of her management, as it will cost to pay out even a reduced pension early. It is very hard to get early retirement in most of the public sector now. Without being able to get your state pension or private pension, you have no choice but to work if you want to eat.

There seem to be quite a number of specialist jobs in the community for qualified nurses. I'm not sure what happens to HCAs, Carers, cleaners, brickies, road diggers etc.

I hear you Op, I am a mental health nurse with 20+years experience who took time out/worked part time to raise kids. I really regret it tbh as am now divorced and looking ahead wondering how the hell I can do this for another 18 years.

In my job it's really the emotional toll and burnout rather than the physicality of the job which concerns me. I am looking in to my pension and hoping to move sideways to another area of nursing which is not that easy.

Lazy - Look around you. There are big variations in the health of 61 year olds. And it is not just about staying fit. Many illnesses that people live with for 40 or 50 years become harder to manage as you get older. I have an illness I have had since I was 20. In my twenties it had little impact. As my body has got older it has had a much greater impact. Talk to others and this is not that uncommon.
The other issue is ageing parents. I have seen so many friends in their 50s and 60 stressed up and worn out as they try and work full time, help their teenage or young adult children, and hep care for elderly parents.

Lazy-you are fortunate. Some people are less lucky and develop health problems in their 60s.-the chances increase. I think I am as sharp mentally as I was at 30 and more confident- but that's luck. I have a medical problem which would make heavy physical work difficult for me and going to the gym or attempting to run a marathon would make it worse.

We are not as much in control of our health as you seem to think. What cleaty said!

Lasy - yes, look around you, not everyone is lucky enough to be in the pink of health no matter how well they take care of themselves. I'm also coming across younger colleagues - in their 30s - with various aches and pains. I think part of it is overwork and part of it is luck.

also, you mention your colleague who got the MA and trained to be a counsellor. My first thought was "how much did the MA cost" - in some cases it can be better not to take that kind of money out of your retirement pot.

just to add, a friend of mine was diagnosed with cancer at 60. The treatment really took it out of her and then she was made redundant. She did get another job but has decided to leave London anyway, because she is now permanently exhausted.

hers is a private pension but I just mention it because she was a very enthusiastic and vigorous worker, but is simply not the same now, I think aggressive chemo will do that to you.

Of course there are some jobs that you need to mentally and physically fit for. but, the reality now is that tax payers cannot afford for large numbers of people to retire at 60 or even 65 knowing that realistically they are going live for another 20 years or more. You cant start work at 21 (assuming uni first) work for 39 years and then expect 20 years not working unless you are prepared to pay a lot more into the system than is currently the case.

There needs to be a total rethink on employing older people who have come out of one profession because they aren't fit enough mentally or physically to do it any more and to give them another job to do. and it will be less well paid and it might be considered menial but the days of retiring at 55 or 60 swanning off on holidays and golf have long gone.

the reality is that successive governments since the 1950's knew that this was going to be problem - age at death increasing but pension age staying the same - but none of them had the bottle to do anything about it. I remember reading an article as long back as the 1970's about this so the knowledge isn't new.

the original legislation, in hindsight, should have had the retirement age pegged to the 55th or 60th centile of life expectancy and the age should just have increased gradually over the years. It didn't and we are now in a mess because of it.

if you are in a job where you know you aren't going to be able to continue doing it into your late 60's early 70's then you need to start planning what you are going to do now. it might mean starting to develop some new skills before you need them but really whatever job you are in no-one can envisage working into old age - teacher, fireman, police officer, builder, plumber etc.

Lazy, both my parents died in recent years - both in their 60's - one had cancer (was ill for a couple of years), the other dropped dead very suddenly. One was still working and the other died only 3 years after retirement age. I wish they had had more time to spend with family rather than working so hard.

Serious illness and death at this age is not as uncommon as the media would have us believe. We really don't all make it to our 70's and 80's perfectly fit and mobile.