Four GPS earned £1m a year during Covid as health chiefs accused of pay ‘black hole’

AT LEAST four GPS were paid more than £1 million a year during the Covid pandemic, it has been revealed.

The doctors received seven-figure incomes according to figures obtained via a Freedom of Information request. The NHS did not reveal exactly how many GPS earned £1 million or more, claiming it may identify them, but it confirmed it was under five.

The figures, first published by The Sun newspaper, also revealed that at least two doctors received £800,000 to £850,000, and another two earned between £850,000 and £900,000. In all, 8,593 GPS in England received more than £100,000 in the year 2021-22.

It is thought demand during Covid and a rise in chains of surgeries fuelled doctors’ wages. Jonathan Eida, of the Taxpayers’ Alliance pressure group, said: “Patients will be shocked by the bumper pay for some local doctors, yet the data on most is unavailable. Health bosses claim to be committed to transparency ... yet a huge black hole has been allowed to open up.”

The Department of Health and Social Care said: “General Practices are self-employed contractors to the NHS who independently set staff pay.

“Taxpayers rightly expect transparency and value for money, and the NHS is already required to publish earnings and expenses information.”

Figures published last year showed average GPS’ earnings rose by 23 per cent in a decade to a record £118,000.

Last week, it was announced that NHS consultants would end strike action after accepting a new pay deal worth up to £20,000 a year.

Consultants had been in a pay dispute for almost a year and first went on strike in July – contributing to the 1.4 million cancelled NHS appointments.

Junior doctors, who remain in a dispute, are seeking a pay rise worth up to 35 per cent a year.