The Bottom Line

Original version

BBC Radio 4 LW

Factual: Money

Evan Davis hosts the business conversation show with insights from the people at the top.

BBC Radio 4 FM

The Bottom Line: The business of being a GP

The business of being a GP

BBC Radio 4 - The Bottom Line, The business of being a GP

GPs are not salaried staff but contracted service providers. How do the economics work?

As contractors to the NHS, GPs are not only clinicians but owners of small businesses. How do the economics work? And could this model be one of the reasons for GP shortages?

Since the very beginning of the NHS, GP surgeries have been, in effect, businesses with contracts to do the work the Health Service needs. But in recent decades, patient numbers have grown, surgeries have become larger and the services offered more varied. Many GP surgeries now employ administrative staff, nurses, physiotherapists and paramedics, as well as doctors. 

What's it like to be a clinician and run a small business at the same time? What are the pressures? How do you get the books to balance? And how do you attract more people to join one of the front lines of the NHS? Evan Davis and guests discuss.

GUESTS  
Dr. John Lynch, GP Partner, Framfield House Surgery, Woodbridge Suffolk 
Dr. Matt Noble, GP Partner, GP@hand, Bablyon Health a 'digital first' practice
Dr. Yazmin Razak, Single GP practitioner, North Kensington 
and Dr. Rebecca Rosen, Senior Fellow, Health Policy at the Nuffield Trust and part-time GP, South London  

Producers: Julie Ball and Kirsteen Knight
Researcher: Louise Byrne
Sound Engineers: Graham Puddifoot and Rod Farquhar
Editor: Simon Watts

BBC Radio 4

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

The Bottom Line

The business of being a GP

Genres

Brand

BBC Radio 4 LW

About BBC Radio 4