Careers in General Practice
Every UK citizen is entitled to be registered with a GP
practice. This means that everywhere you go is on some GP's patch.
Whether it is the most idyllic and isolated of rural areas or the
most run-down inner city, a GP will be caring for the people who
live there. The contrasts are enormous. From practicing alone on a
tiny Scottish island to working in an urban health centre in a
deprived area with 20 other doctors, the newly qualified GP has an
astonishing number of career choices. Indeed, not only do GPs see a
tremendous variety of patients but they all work in remarkably
different ways. Most GMS GPs are self-employed, in charge of
running their own small businesses, and have considerable freedom
in the way that they choose to work and in what additional skills
they choose to learn.
The new GMS contract was introduced in April
2004 and provides greater flexibility of GP careers, and gives GPs
the option to opt out of the responsibility of out-of-hours care
and to be paid for the quality and variety of services that they
provide. Other GPs are employed by their local health authority on
Personal Medical Services contracts. In the different countries of
the UK, general practice is administered in different ways - and
there are even subtle differences from area to area. In England,
for instance, general practitioners are now grouped together in
primary care trusts and have increasing responsibility for running
of general practice and the commissioning of hospital services for
the community.
If you have a careers enquiry visit the careers pages of the RCGP website or contact us
on 020 7344 3051 or email careers@rcgp.org.uk