What should they be paid?

Pamela to be fair to Candelle, the OP suggested that GP’s salaries were halved and moaned that many of them work part-time. It made me cross too, even though I have no family links to the medical profession. I just know how many years it takes to qualify as a GP and have some idea of how demanding a job it it is.
Someone else demanded that all GPs work full-time.
My view is that when it takes 11 or 12 years to qualify, and that someone comes out of university with a £60K student loan to repay, and their starting salary is £22K, they should be free to work as many or as few hours as they choose.
A few years ago, the Government demanded that GPs publish their salaries in their surgeries. None of the doctors at our surgery earned more than £65K.

Hello PamelaJ1

Apologies, it was a bit late but no, I am not cross with most Gransnetters who did seem to value their doctors and our NHS. It is just the few who believe all the '£100,000 pa' rubbish and have no idea that their GP leaves work exhausted each day, day after day.

They probably don't understand that our NHS is in crisis with creeping privatisation (hearing test anyone? - go to Specsavers (although currently still NHS funded but how long before it is not). Many services are being outsourced and it is a gentle hop before those have to paid for by the end user. Need some medications? Go to your local chemist (as these are no longer available on the NHS).

As to other professions, I absolutely agree. Gravediggers are one. Where would we be if they stopped work?!

Another family member used to teach (but was demoralised because of all the bureaucracy and fed-up supplementing paper and crayons to her class out of her own meagre salary).

Teacher-bashing is out of favour at the moment but if they have a pay-rise, watch it all flourish again. Teachers also work long hours (and not the 8.30-3.15 pm which is trotted out. Their half-term holidays are frequently taken up with report writing and the summer break is fore-shortened by the necessary tasks of coming in early to prepare for the next term/year.

I know lawyers who, when preparing for trial, work evenings and weekends too and I am sure many other, less qualified people work hard too. I was reading of zero-hour contracts where 'employees' (I am unsure if they are employed or have a contract) are called in at extremely short-notice to work sometimes very long days. All of this is unacceptable and I really feel for everyone and glad I am out of the workplace now! It was definitely easier in my day with less stress and expectation.

The OP's question was 'what should they be paid?' but unless we take the route to communism there should be an open-market place where individuals are paid according to their 'worth'. Without gravediggers, or rubbish-collectors, we would soon grind to a halt but should they, for example be paid double their salary? Should a CEO be paid millions? 'Worth' is a very tricky word. It is all a minefield!

Thanks, janainsworth!

All v true.

Apparently the public is happy for this awful situation to continue and to be treated by an exhausted doctor.

To be fair, I have no solution for a quick fix (I feel taking doctors from other, even less well supplied countries for the UK is immoral) but as you mention, training is indeed a long process and even were there a doubling of medical students (there was a move to an initial four-year degree course some years ago), it takes six years for a rookie GP to emerge, four more years of training and far more before they really know what they are doing! Experience is invaluable but we are losing some of our older GP's through stress, being completely fatigued and demoralised.

Our current Government seems blithely uninterested in the NHS and indeed is piling on pressure to reduce costs further when there is no slack to give. Fewer medical students are taking the GP career route as they see in their training, the demands put upon the average GP. What will happen within a few years with a rising population is anyone's guess.

Oops, I have gone off piste again. I think that GP's are worth far more than they are paid now (but so too are other professions) (in the States, although the student finance debt is larger than here, an average GP will earn several hundred thousand dollars pa with almost office working hours and one, who found out my family member's salary and working day just sat and laughed for several minutes!).

I am never jealous, even of a CEO on millions, as if you can obtain it, do so but please don't bash GP's, their pay and particularly their working hours - I bet you wouldn't/couldn't sustain it!

Thank you Candelle for your totally accurate assessment of the situation regarding GPs.

GabriellaG54 teachers on a 4.5 day week!! It's not that simple.

My friend is a full time teacher. Never leaves school before 6pm. Always in before 8.30am. Every night she has paperwork to do, marking, planning. Then there is the expected extra curricular often on a Saturday morning. All without extra payment.

Yes there are longer holidays but not as much as people would think. Back into school for at least 3 weeks before school starts back. Ongoing meetings over the summer.

Also, family holidays can only be taken at peak rates. Impossible to get time off in term time, especially at short notice.

Candelle maybe the doctor situation could be improved if their working conditions were improved. In Scotland only about half of doctors are still working for the NHS four years after they graduated! They move into less stressful careers, go abroad or just stop being doctors.

I agree Suedonim
50 years ago women were discriminated against when they applied to medical school. Only a certain number of places could be allocated to them.
That’s been overcome and now there are more women students than men.
But until it’s recognised that women need flexibility and reasonably family-friendly hours, there will continue to be the wastage you describe.