GP Hours

[aoibheal]

Hey

I really want to be a GP (despite many of my peers sneering at the idea) because I would much rather work with patients on a day to day basis over a long period of time.

I'm pretty sure not all GPs earn 100K+ but as we're working with an average here I'll go with that. Although a lot of money it does seem reasonable for the amount of training that will have been put in by the time someone becomes a GP, and is not higher then the pay of a consultant....but no one seems to begrudge them that.

As has been said GPs do offer OOH services, and I think the availiability of these services is not the problem, more a lack of awareness that they are present. Perhaps if the public were better informed of what was there for them, or these services were shifted slightly to give GPs working on rotating shifts to mean that surgeries could open until, say, around 9pm, and on weekends.

My opinion is pretty ill informed because I haven't done an awful amount of research on this yet apart from talking to my beloved doctor lol but maybe someone could give me some information on the current way things are?

[asklepios]

The ignorance of the public about these things is astounding. I don't think I'd want to show the dude in Tesco my plantar warts, nor do I think he'd want to see my uncle's piles. And if he ****s up my change, so what? Is anyone going to be crippled, in pain, or die from it? Most likely not. Is he at risk of being sued for putting my veggies in the same bag as my meat? Did he go through 10+ years of training to scan barcodes? If someone's going to poke and prod my body, I want them to be happy with their job and payscale. CEO's and Council directors make as much as GP's, so I don't see what the fuss is about. The government threw a bunch of money at the NHS, it got sucked up by some management consultants and we're not all entirely pleased with the results and so they're scrambling for answers. It's just the media conspiring with the government to distract the easily distracted public from some *real* issues, such as where did that extra £9bn to the NHS go, why is the war in Afghanistan is failing, Iraq is slipping into chaos, we're at the precipice of an economic recession, the police are threatening to go on strike, immigration problems, social divides, the list could go on...

[devil]

I think that the private sector should be introduced and let it be just like in USA. Then maybe they will stop complaining, when they actually appreciate the doctors' responsibilities, hard work and knowledge. Then doctors will be on a more privileged position and people will realize, that NHS system is actually quite good, even though with its own problems at the moment

[bpr]

I think that the private sector should be introduced and let it be just like in USA. Then maybe they will stop complaining, when they actually appreciate the doctors' responsibilities, hard work and knowledge. Then doctors will be on a more privileged position and people will realize, that NHS system is actually quite good, even though with its own problems at the moment

The thing is, Doctors wont be more privileged and people won't realise.
Private companies will see an end to the "family doctor" who treated you when you were a kid and your parents while they grew up.
People won't appreciate it, because there will still be appointment shortages, but if they went to a private co. they'ed be paying upwards of £25 for the pleasure. Further, the private company would have an incentive to cram them in because of the profits make. I'm sure I've read somewhere that each GP appointment on the NHS costs £7.50 its pretty hard to beat, and even cheaper than NHS walking centres, NHS direct, A&E etc.