Sir, On July 13th you published a short report culled from the report of the General Medical Services (Payments) Board. "Seven doctors paid more than £140,000", "Higher bills push medical costs" are the headlines that blazed irritatingly at me.
Year after year, it has to be pointed out that the £140,000 figure is turnover from which all costs are met including assistant doctor(s), nurses, receptionists, main and outlying premises, insurance, rent, rates, mortgages, interest, motoring, telephone and sundry other expenses. The average pre tax pay after all this is £30,000 approximately for each doctor, for a 168 hour week.
The regurgitation of mere statistics, year after year, is unhelpful. The medical card service is in crisis (or at least very many doctors' finances are) and my organisation is very unhappy that doctors are giving a deluxe service for derisory reward. Private practice and, frequently, non medical ventures are supporting the medical card service. It won't continue.
Lastly, the informative little diagram displayed administration costs of 1.6 per cent, or £3.5 m. This seems brilliantly efficient, until one realises that the payments board hardly administers the GMS at all. It examines claims for fees and pays up accordingly, and not much else.
The GMS is administered (a word that is rapidly losing credibility) by the Department of Health and eight health boards. If your reporter can find out the real administrative cost, it would be very surprising and might tarnish the gloss of apparent efficiency. - Yours etc.,
Chairman, Association of
General Practitioners.
Slievenamon Road,
Thurles,
Co. Tipperary.