GP strike would bring shame on the profession

SIR – A very worrying and unsustainable situation has developed in general practice.

It is reported (June 28) that the British Medical Association is not only encouraging GPS to strike for more pay but is also resisting contractual changes that would ensure services on Saturdays. This intransigence, compounded by the continuing reluctance to provide face-to-face consultations, is doing enormous harm to the reputation of a once honourable profession.

It should be remembered that the BMA is essentially a trade union and does not represent the whole medical profession. Supporters of such militant action should be ashamed.

Malcolm H Wheeler FRCS Bonvilston, Glamorgan

SIR – With so much of the population threatening strike action if they do not receive a pay rise, I wonder where they think the money is going to come from.

Margaret Durrant

Sonning Common, Oxfordshire

SIR – Strike action by wellremunerated GPS is unlikely to receive public support. Face-to-face consultation with a doctor in many parts of the country is now almost impossible.

In the past, most patients knew their GP and had no knowledge of or interest in their financial status. Michael Jenkins

Saffron Walden, Essex

SIR – We grossly underpay doctors and nurses in this country. The average doctor’s salary in Canada is £225,000. In Australia it is £116,000, and in the United States it is £184,000. In Britain, doctors earn just £76,000 on average.

The requested 30 per cent increase might sound high, but it would be spread over five years, and would only reverse the huge decline in salaries that doctors have suffered since 2008.

I believe in paying people their worth. The police and fire services are worth it – and so are our doctors and nurses.

Christopher Wood Plymouth, Devon