Lazy GPs

Recently the press was full of information about how GPs were all earning £250,000 for doing less work.

I gather that there are about 6 out of approximately 30,000 GPs earning this amount. But I digress.

Newspapers and websites ran stories about it, such as the BBC. They also invited people to pass comment on "have your say".

There was the inevitable variety of comments, some positive, some negative. What made me sad were several comments suggesting that all GPs are lazy fat cats.

As I've said above there are approximately 30,000 GPs. Of course some will be lazy. But all of us? I don't think so.

So why the perception to some that we are all lazy? Perhaps they couldn't get an appointment as quickly as they wished. Maybe a request for a home visit was declined.

The conclusion I arrive at is that the complainers are ignorant as to what a GP actually does with his or her time. They can't see beyond the time that a doctor spends seeing patients in surgery, i.e. if we're not seeing a patient, we're not doing anything. They don't account for the administrative tasks we have to do, which takes over 50% of our time. Do the prescriptions sign themselves? Do the referral letters write themselves? And so on.

Are we worth the money we are paid? I would say yes, obviously, but this could be debated sensibly.

But are we lazy? Definitely not.