GPs should not feel guilty about high salaries, says £300,000 doctor
A DOCTOR earning more than £300,000 a year has defended his earnings saying GPs should not feel guilty about commanding huge salaries.
Suppiah Ratneswaren, 61, said he was paid between £300,000 and £400,000 a year and 90 per cent of his earnings came from the NHS. He is linked to four NHS practices in the borough of Greenwich.
Dr Ratneswaren said: "I don't want to be seen as a money-hungry doctor because I am driven by the quality of work and I work very hard. I have got nothing to hide. Medical professionals always put themselves in a different context from lawyers and other professionals such as City boys, and that's why I suppose there's a difference in the pay and the way they are perceived in the community." He spoke out after a Freedom of Information request revealed that one GP had earned £378,000 in one year working for the NHS in Greenwich. Another doctor earned £270,000 and six others were paid more than £190,000.
Dr Ratneswaren said he was not the highest-paid doctor in Greenwich and his salary was "closer to £300,000 than £400,000". The GP, who also earns performance-related pay for meeting administrative and clinical targets such as measuring cholesterol levels among patients, said the country benefited from the incentives, "because I will argue that we have improved the quality of services to the patients".
A second GP in the trust area, Hany Wahba, 56, has been named by colleagues as one of the country's highest-paid doctors. Dr Wahba, who sits on the local committee of the British Medical Association and heads a practice in Plumstead, said: "I am not in a position to discuss anything. I don't want to be dragged into something I don't want to say."
In August, the Standard revealed how a doctor in the North East Essex Primary Care Trust earns more than £380,000 a year. GPs' pay has soared since the Government renegotiated their contracts in 2004 and allowed them to opt out of night and weekend work. Average pay rose from £72,716 in 2002 to £106,072 now, and many areas were left short of night-time cover.
A Department of Health spokesman said: "Having enjoyed considerable improvements in their workload and pay when the new GP contract was introduced in 2004, most GPs have had no increase in their pay over the last three years." He added: "GP practices are independent contractors so it is up to the partners of that practice to decide how much staff are paid."
