THE NUMBER of North Yorkshire police officers retiring on medical grounds is continuing to increase sharply, an official report revealed today.

Last year 37 retirements on the grounds of ill-health accounted for almost 58 per cent of the total number of officers standing down.

The figure - the third highest in the country - comes despite government requests to try to reduce the number of police leaving on medical grounds.

It leaves the force way above the target set by ministers of 33 per cent and is an increase of almost nine per cent on last year's figure of 49 per cent of the total number of retirements.

The figures, contained in Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Constabularies' annual report, increase the pressure on police chiefs to find a solution.

The report states: "Retirement on medical grounds will continue to have a legitimate place for staff seriously injured in the line of duty or too ill to continue to fulfil the requirements of the job.

"The challenge, however, is to get the balance between sick leave and use of medical retirement right - while having regard to the financial, operational and personal consequences of both.

"Regrettably, there continues to be evidence of the misuse of medical retirement provisions in a limited number of cases."

It adds: "It remains desirable to amend regulations in ways that reduce the scope for abuse of systems designed to protect those in genuine need.

"There also remains a need to enable officers to leave the service with dignity where they can no longer continue as police officers.

"It is necessary to look at this in the round and to develop the right package of measures to improve still further on progress to date in this difficult area."

Early retirement has become a thorny political issue, with critics claiming it is too easy for officers to leave with generous packages - sometimes while they are under investigation for alleged wrongdoing. Home Secretary David Blunkett has pledged to tackle the issue as part of a wide-ranging shake-up of forces.

The proposals will also include a crackdown on sick days and moves to fast-track civilians, including private detectives and computer technicians, into the police.

Meanwhile, the report also revealed the average number of days sick leave taken by North Yorkshire police last year was 13.

The figure - the equivalent of 17,000 days lost to illness - is a slight increase on the previous 12 months, when an average of 12.8 days sick leave were taken.

The national average is 12.2 days.

Updated: 10:35 Thursday, October 18, 2001