Average GP's wage tops £100,000

The average GP's pay has topped £100,000 for the first time, official figures showed.

Salaries rose by almost quarter in just one year as a result of GPs' lucrative new contract, according to the Information Centre for Health and Social Care.

Their average pay was £100,170 in 2004/05, the first full year of the contract.

The pay hike came despite the fact that GPs work on average six hours fewer a week as a result of the changes.

The new contract gave them the opportunity to opt out of providing out-ofhours care, which 90 per cent of them duly did.

Primary care trusts found themselves left with the responsibility for patients outside the hours of 8am to 6.30pm, as well as on weekends and bank holidays.

The policy has led to inferior care in many areas, with insufficient GPs on call and patients being forced to ring 999 or visit accident and emergency departments for routine care.

The salary figures released by the centre estimate the average GP now earns around £106,000 a year - not including employers' pension contributions.

Last month MPs criticised GPs' pay as'excessive' while one of the British Medical Association contract negotiators described how he thought it was 'a bit of a laugh' when ministers offered doctors such a favourable deal.

Chancellor Gordon Brown acknowledged family doctors had enjoyed a good deal under their contract when he refused to give them a pay rise this year.

This has led to a pay cut in real terms with some GPs threatening to turn patients away if the Government does not increase its offer.

New contracts for hospital consultants have also seen them get pay rises in return for shorter hours.