Hewitt condemns GPs' profits
Hewitt under fire for GPs pay comments
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Friday, 19, Jan 2007 10:12
Doctors have responded angrily to claims by the health secretary that the government made a mistake in not capping GPs' incomes.
Patricia Hewitt made the comments in light of statistics showing that average salaries of family doctors have risen to over £100,000.
A contract established in 2004 enabled GPs to make higher profits from their practices; in 2003-4 GPs took 40 per cent of their gross earnings in profit but this rose to 45 per cent following the new contract, according to the NHS Information Centre.
As a result average pay stood at £106,000 after the contract.
Speaking in an interview with the BBC, Ms Hewitt praised GPs but said that had the government realised how much earnings would have risen then steps would have been taken to prevent this.
"I think if we anticipated this business of GPs taking a higher share of income in profits we would have wanted to do something to try to ensure that the ratio of profits to the total income stayed the same and therefore more money was invested in even better services for patients," she said.
"When we were negotiating the GP contract we had GPs taking early retirement and very large numbers of new doctors refusing to become GPs.
"Now it is quite true that neither the government or BMA [British Medical Association] anticipated how much GPs would do in response to performance-related pay."
Responding to her comments, Laurence Buckman, deputy chairman of the BMA's GPs committee, said: "Is the secretary of state saying she wishes GP practices had not performed so well on quality targets thereby improving the delivery of top quality care?
"The government signed off the contract which ties income to quality performance. She should be proud of the achievements of general practice, not denigrating doctors for delivering quality patient care."