Yes - I read this whole blog and replies with great interest/depression. Whilst I know there are some GP's who discredit our profession by having terrible attitude problems, it does sadden me to hear that there are many of the public who think so little of us as a profession because of it. I am a half time GP and I probably take home about £38K, I drive a battered punto and am struggling to pay the mortgage on my recently acquired 4 bedroom house but I am not complaining. I know I am far better off than many people and I choose to have a bigger mortgage than I can probably afford. I think I am paid well enough for the hours that I work and I consider myself very lucky that although I work hard, I enjoy what I do and I enjoy making a difference. There are not many people who enjoy their jobs to that extent. I think, though, unfortunately that there are a great many GP's with attitude problems and they might well be good GP's but they haven't got people skills. The RCGP's are trying to address this by making the MRCGP (new version) compulsory so that new GP's are more people centred. There are of course also a much larger proportion of GP's who are very good at their job and like me probably feel totally disheartened by the GP bashing that is flying around at the moment. Whatever people think of this Alex Thomas he/she has done the job he/she wanted of provoking a huge debate. What I think is interesting and shows just how much Alex is into the journalism aspect and cares not about the content of what he/she is writing about, is the article from August 07 that he/she wrote, virtually defending GP's for their 'large' salaries - see link below
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2007/aug/17/health.comment