Letter: Why young doctors are turning away from general practice

From Dr H McGregor

Sir: I am a female GP, aged 29, poised to leave the NHS to work in private industry and glad to do so.

Having slogged through three character-destroying years as a junior hospital doctor, any enthusiasm I may have had about medicine has been thrashed out of me. The thousands of pounds it cost taxpayers to train me I have paid back, in sweat and tears, by doing inhumane on-call hours for a pittance over the years.

On entering general practice I found the on-call commitment more than I could bear. General practice becomes increasingly unattractive when one experiences the unreasonable demands and expectations of an increasing number of patients; the time wasted on fund-holding paperwork and meetings; the farcical practice of attending so-called educational meetings in order to keep up to date with the litigious climate we work in.

The inability of GPs and the Government to agree on a separate out-of- hours contract prompted my decision to escape and I know that many of my contemporaries are doing the same.

Yours faithfully,

H McGregor

Canterbury

The writer is using a pseudonym