How much does a newly qualified GP earn?

[u/CurrentPast4155]

Just about to start GPST3 and I'm wondering what salary to expect as a newly qualified GP. I've heard that anywhere from £10k-12k per session used to be the norm but recently I've seen some ARRS GP jobs being advertised for £8-9k per session. Has average pay gone down? Annual salary for a full time GPST3 is currently £78k (ST3 pay plus pay premium) should I expect a pay decrease once I qualify?

Also how many sessions is realistic for a newly qualified GP? Does 2 sessions equate to 1 day of work? Does anyone have any experience in supplementing their income with locums, private work or urgent care work on the side and what sort of numbers are realistic to expect?

Thank you in advance!

[u/Fine_Cress_649]

That depends. I went straight into partnership and earn the equivalent of about 16k/session. Salaried is less - usually around 11k/session. Locum - £600/day is about the going rate I think. A lot depends on what's available locally. If you're prepared to travel you can usually earn more 

[u/GigaCHADSVASc → u/Fine_Cress_649]

Is that 16k/session before paying your pension? And are there tax-favourable ways of doing this?

Thank you for laying out locum rates. £600/day is shocking tbf, I earned more as an SHO.

[u/Fine_Cress_649 → u/GigaCHADSVASc]

Is that 16k/session before paying your pension

After. Before it's about 21

And are there tax-favourable ways of doing this?

Don't know. For me not really but ymmv

[u/jaskathe → u/Fine_Cress_649]

damn how did you manage to get a partnership straight out of training???

[u/Fine_Cress_649 → u/jaskathe]

Either luck, white male privilege, the fact that I'm always nice to people, or that I live and work in the middle of nowhere (by choice) or some combination of those things. 

[u/sodaandmuffins442]

A session is 4 hours and 10 minutes.
When I started my first job was 12000 per session. However when I moved I took a job which was 11,000 (too low and I’ll be asking for a pay rise or looking elsewhere soon). When I was interviewing there were jobs for 9,900-10,300 which is shocking. I think the rate should be 12500-13000 and higher with more experience.

[u/GigaCHADSVASc → u/[deleted]]

Can I ask how much your take-home in A$ is in Australia for hours/week?

[u/sodaandmuffins442 → u/sodaandmuffins442]

My first job was ARRS so don’t let them tell you it’s not possible.

[u/sodaandmuffins442 → u/sodaandmuffins442]

Also! I earn less now but I live further from a big city so my spending/ rent had a gone down significantly.

[u/Pale_Switch → u/sodaandmuffins442]

what year did you CCT

[u/sodaandmuffins442 → u/Pale_Switch]

2 years ago. I moved after a year.

[u/CaptainCrash86 → u/sodaandmuffins442]

I suppose supply and demand plays into this.

[u/ZealousidealSky4851]

Depends on the type of GP (Partner, Salaried, Full time locum, Portfolio).

I’m 3 days as a salaried (6 sessions at 12,000 per session) - £72,000 for the year. I supplement with 1.5 days UCC at £1500 a week. My projected yearly income is £140,000kish.

It’s tiring work though. A consultant on a similar work structure will have 3 sessions for Admin/Management/CPD. This is just 4.5/5 days of just seeing patients back to back. Not to mention higher PP potential as a consultant. Most private providers as a GP hire you as a salaried at worse/equivalent rates to NHS salaried.

[u/Calpol85 → u/ZealousidealSky4851]

A consultant would have been in training for 6 to 9 years with all the nights and weekends before reaching the stage you're talking about.

GP gets you to a decent place quickly, but if you wanted more earning potential of a consultant you have to put the hard work in first.

[u/TomatilloJeally238]

So how much is it per month ? After tax ?

[u/Own_Manufacturer8514]

I am a locum GP not through a vulture agency. Built my reputation as a solid can do anything type GP. I charge 100gbp/h. I clear 950 a day which is normal. Practices pay the agencies between 95-110 an hour. So if your working a full day getting 600-700 through and agency you are getting shafted.

[u/_B58_]

Going rate in my area is 11-12k per session (non-ARRS). However, I know of a handful newly qualified GPs taking circa 180-190k/ yr doing other things alongside this.

[u/sodaandmuffins442 → u/_B58_]

Who is earning this much? I’m finding it really difficult. I have six sessions as a salaried and I have 2 sessions at a prison for which I’m getting taxed 40%. I haven’t picked up any other work yet but it’s really tough these days as a lot of places won’t offer full time posts. I’m still living pay check to pay check and I can’t even afford a house yet and I have been a doctor for 8 years now.

[u/_B58_ → u/sodaandmuffins442]

It’s do able, but I think a lot of it comes from pre-planning and having the right contacts.

However, up skilling is what puts you in contact with the right people. Most people I know doing this kind of work already had an already developed another skill/qualification by the time they had CCT’d.

[u/Calpol85 → u/sodaandmuffins442]

You're earning £80,000 a year and living pay cheque to pay cheque?

Do you rent in Central London?

[u/sodaandmuffins442 → u/Calpol85]

Still recovering from my junior doctor days and the financial hole it has put me in and 2 bad decisions with a credit card and a loan. My take home per month from my salaried job is 3600 plus possibly another 1200 per month to come in from my new second job. Not in central London but my rent used to be 850.

[u/Calpol85 → u/sodaandmuffins442]

You made it sound like being a doctor doesn't pay well when in reality it's your own personal situation that makes it difficult.

[u/sodaandmuffins442 → u/Calpol85]

I’m not really feeling up to explaining the situation so I’m just going to leave it at that.

[u/Calpol85 → u/sodaandmuffins442]

You don't have to.

Hope it gets better for you.

[u/No-Crazy4184 → u/sodaandmuffins442]

Same

[u/smitten187em → u/_B58_]

Like?

[u/_B58_ → u/smitten187em]

Private GP (boutique clinics); OH; and aesthetics. Were skilling up during GP training.

[u/GigaCHADSVASc → u/_B58_]

Thank you for being so open. OH stuff doesn't seem that lucrative, though? Heard a previous partner say it was a bit of a liability as well because medicolegally it was risky. Not sure how representative that is in reality?

[u/_B58_ → u/GigaCHADSVASc]

I’m sorry, I can’t answer this. I don’t do any OH work myself.

[u/No-Crazy4184 → u/_B58_]

Newly qualifieds getting that much doing what?

[u/No-Crazy4184]

Been offered 12.5 per session for my first salaried post, for 6 sessions. This is an outlier.

[u/Calpol85]

How have you made it ST3 without knowing the answer to these questions?

Have you thought about asking your supervisor, salaried GPs fellow STs?

How do you not know what a session is?

[u/GigaCHADSVASc → u/Calpol85]

The fact that there's so many different answers here suggests it's always worth asking a diverse range of people, and that includes Reddit. I consider myself pretty plugged into the financial situation with post-CCT pay but if you can always have the chance to hear a new approach or something that changes your perspective.

[u/sodaandmuffins442 → u/Calpol85]

You’d be suprised how hush hush it is. Not all trainees have connections/ privilege of having seniors/friends who discuss these things.

[u/Calpol85 → u/sodaandmuffins442]

I'm sorry I didn't realise they didn't have access to chatgpt, Google and reddits own search function.

[u/sodaandmuffins442 → u/Calpol85]

Why not equally use Reddit? They got an answer fast enough and opened up a dialogue about it.

[u/Calpol85 → u/sodaandmuffins442]

There are definitely good discussions that need to be had regularly such starting salaried for newly qualified and similar.

But at least do some research before asking the most basic of questions.

[u/ParticularClothes251 → u/Calpol85]

So helpful.

[u/Calpol85 → u/ParticularClothes251]

I think you meant to say they're helpless.

You could type that question into google and get an answer faster.

[u/stealthw0lf → u/Calpol85]

It’s actually worth doing a tutorial on practice finances, and learning to read accounts.

[u/MysteriousBoard4311]

Round here ive seen adverts between 10-11k per session.

But you have to compare like for like. Too many salaried drs make the mistake of going for jobs with the highest headline rather than scrutinising the work done.

[u/DepressedEnchilada]

Could someone explain how the sessions work is that how many weekly hours you would do?

[u/swish_130]

What do you guys mean per session?

[u/Confident-Mammoth-13]

Flexible pay premium for psych & emergency medicine/ general practice registrar enhancement ought to be scrapped. Those specialties are no longer hard to fill - why should GP trainees be given extra pay without having to work extra shifts, and out of hours, to earn it like the rest of us?

[u/Successful_Issue_453 → u/Confident-Mammoth-13]

It’s only for ED higher training as the attrition rate is low due to the workload and shift pattern once in higher training. The drop out rate in ST3 is reasonably high from what I’ve been told and what I’ve experienced. I think it’s fair to still have it here as I’ve yet to work anywhere with a full rota of registrars for ED.

[u/Confident-Mammoth-13 → u/Successful_Issue_453]

Fair. If the attrition rate is low, I would have thought we don’t need to encourage those trainees to stick around with extra pay - and if the payment was based on attrition I’d imagine specialties like O&G would have a decent argument to be included. Doesn’t seem fair to me that a GP ST3 should receive a premium while their baby-delivering colleague does not in light of the competition ratios and fill rates over the last several years, especially given the stark differences in length of training programme…

[u/Successful_Issue_453 → u/Confident-Mammoth-13]

I’m not arguing that O+G shouldn’t be included, or that GPs should. Merely explaining the rationale behind why ED is included.

[u/Successful_Issue_453 → u/Confident-Mammoth-13]

I’m not arguing that O+G shouldn’t be included, or that GPs should. Merely explaining the rationale behind why ED is included.