UK GPs highest paid

Friday, 2 September 2005 12:00 AM

GPs in the UK are better paid than their European counterparts, research has revealed.

A study by research firm Stethos found the average wage of British GPs, about £50,000 after tax, to be double that of their counterparts in Spain and Italy.

An elite 17 per cent of UK doctors take home more than £69,000, the poll revealed.

More than 200 GPs in each country - the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain - were surveyed by GP magazine and other European health journals about pay, patient numbers and consultation length.

While UK GPs had the best rates of pay, German doctors saw the most patients - 63 a day on average.

In the UK, doctors saw 47 patients per day in consultations of nearly ten minutes.

French GPs had the longest average consultations - more than 17 minutes, but with an average of 24 patients a day.

Italian GPs saw just 21 patients in consultations of 16 minutes each.

The poll also found that UK GPs were among the most content with how their pay was generated.

But Dr Hamish Meldrum, chairman of the British Medical Association's (BMA) GPs committee, said it was "difficult" to make comparisons as GPs across Europe performed different jobs.

A new contract for GPs, introduced last year on top of a standard pay rise, allows doctors to make thousands of pounds in bonuses for meeting performance goals.

Data released earlier this week revealed 91 per cent of GP targets had been met.

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