GPs have a windfall, some found to get £250,000 a year

GPs have a windfall, some found to get £250,000 a year

	Published : Tue, 18 Apr 2006 16:00 By : Cedric Benson Print this Story

LONDON: Some GPs in Britain are found to be earning as much as 250,000 pounds a year under the new contract they have signed with the NHS.

The Association of Independent Specialist Medical Accountants, in its annual survey, found that on an average a GP today earns 100,000 pounds a year. It said of the 600 GPs it had looked at, at least 10 earned more than that figure.

Mike Gilbert, an accountant with the association, said those doctors who are earning such high salaries are in a minority, but it appeared to create a huge disparity in the salaries of GPs.

An accountancy firm in the North East of England said it had nearly 10 GPs earning between 200,000 pounds and 250,000 pounds a year.

There are many financial experts who believe the new employment contracts for GPs implemented in 2004 were ill-devised and are partly responsible for current deficits in NHS trusts.

However, the GPs themselves do not agree with these figures. Dr Hamish Meldrum, chairman of the British Medical Association's General Practitioners' Committee, said the average earnings were "a bit below" 100,000 pounds. He felt those who were found to be earning 200,000 pounds were probably running complex and high-powered businesses.

The survey is the first of its kind after the contract came into existence.

Meanwhile, the department of health has said the current overspend on GPs is 300 million pounds.

Doctors in general believe the contract has given them earnings in excess of 100,000 pounds after expenses a year, which is an increase of 20 per cent. The say they receive funds simply for carrying out routine checks like cholesterol and blood pressure on a proportion of patients with heart disease.

Health secretary Patricia Hewitt said she is very proud that GPs are getting paid more -- on the basis of the world's biggest health improvement programme. Payments are now tied to the work that GPs actually did, rather than the size of the list of patients. She said, "There are thousands of people who are alive and well today as a direct result of this new contract. This is an enormous improvement in health care, and it is the kind of preventive health care that the public want."

She said she did not believe there are many GPs who earn 200,000 pounds and more.

There could be GPs doing additional work for the Benefits Agency or for private insurance companies or dispensing GPs, who have additional sources of income, she said.