A LEADING Liverpool medical professional says GPs need to be more flexible if they are to justify average earnings of £110,000, a key figure in the region’s health sector said.
Doctors within the city have played down their 9.8% annual rise, revealed in a report yesterday, saying their wages are much lower than the national average and reflect an increase in workload and their high level of expertise.
But former North West Regional Director for Public Health John Ashton, from Woolton, is concerned the increase will attract people to the profession for the wrong reasons.
He said: “I do not want GPs in this country to become like their counterparts in America, where the biggest purchasers of private jets and yachts are doctors.
“Medicine is a vocation and I am concerned that as pay rises, the wrong people are entering the profession.
“As money goes up, there is also the debate about surgery opening times going on and GPs should be prepared to work unsocial hours – that is part and parcel of the job to be flexible.
“It is important that the service they provide is equivalent to the pay and as the NHS changes and more care is provided within the community, GPs need to take on much more of leadership role to justify their earnings.”
The Information Centre for Health and Social Care analysed tax returns from contracted GPs in the UK for 2005-6 to find their pre-tax net profits, including private as well as NHS work, with the results covering full and part-time GPs.
At the lowest end of the scale, 5.9% of GPs had net profits less than £50,000, compared with 9% in 2004/05 and the percentage with net profits more than £200,000 increased from 1.9% in 2004/05 to 3.3% in 2005/06.
Separate analysis showed salaried GPs who made a tax returns showing a greater income from being employed rather than self-employed income, had average total pre-tax earnings of £46,900.
Dr Rob Barnett, secretary of Liverpool Local Medical Committee and a GP within the city said: “On the face of it the figure seems high but I am sure in Liverpool the average is no where near that amount.
“It was well publicised that this year GPs received no pay rise- these figures are for 2005-6- but had to cope with a huge rise in overheads.
“We realise that over the last few years we have been given more money and this is mainly because we are expanding our services.
“Government policy wants more care closer to the community, with hospitals reducing in size and we are providing a lot of that care.
“I also think that most GPs would be happy to work more anti social hours to provide a more flexible service but this is far more complex than it first appears.
“We would have to have other members of staff working those hours to, which could create problems and would cost a lot of money- where will that funding come from?
“GPs in Liverpool are committed to providing good quality of care that meets the requirements of the city’s population.”
lizawilliams
