Fury as GPs get a 60% pay rise in three years for doing even LESS work

Family doctors are doing less work for more money and are providing a poor deal for the taxpayer, according to an independent watchdog's damning report.

The study blows apart a key defence by GPs for their huge pay rise - that they are spending it on extra staff and services.

In fact, they are pocketing a greater proportion of their funding by the taxpayer than ever, leaving less than there should be to pay for improved services.

The report, by the National Audit Office, says GPs are handing over more work to the nurses they employ, but have in many cases not put up their wages in line with inflation.

At the same time as nurses are taking the strain, GPs are seeing fewer patients and are working seven hours fewer a week.

Since the introduction of a lucrative contract in 2004, their pay has shot up 58 per cent to an average of £113,164.

The study also found:

The 2004 GP contract cost the Government £1.76billion more than it had budgeted.

Productivity has fallen by 2.5 per cent - compared to a 1.5 per cent rise predicted by the Government.

GPs are carrying out only 66 per cent of consultations - down from 79 per cent before the contract - with practice nurses doing the rest, although doctors are now spending longer with each patient,

No progress has been made in increasing the number of GPs in deprived areas.

Karen Taylor, head of health at the NAO, said: "I think as far as the public and taxpayer are concerned, the benefits they should have been expecting have not materialised to the extent they should have done.

"From their perspective, it's not a good deal for them."

GP productivity has fallen because the number of hours they work has plummeted.

This is largely because more than 90 per cent of GPs opted out of responsibility for their patients outside working hours.

While pay for GPs has soared, that for practice nurses - whose salaries are paid for by GPs - has risen at no more than the rate of inflation and in some cases below it.

Nurses' representatives were furious. Dr Peter Carter, general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, said it is a disgrace that only 16 per cent of GPs are signed up to giving fair pay to nurses.

"This report clearly demonstrates that general practice nurses have been consistently delivering high quality care as part of the general practice team, yet too many continue to be underpaid and undervalued," he said.

"With an increasing number of practice nurses taking on more responsibility, it is only fair to expect that this extra work is recognised in their pay."

Dr Laurence Buckman, chairman of the British Medical Association's GP committee, said: "GP productivity should be measured in improvements in health, not the frequency of consultations."

He added that GPs had "honoured the pay increases put forward by the national body that decides nurse pay".

Health minister Ben Bradshaw said: "The GP contract stemmed the haemorrhaging of GPs from the NHS and improved the quality of care for the public."