Abstract
Qualifying as a GP can be an unqualified let-down. We spend our training learning how to be a partner, but actually we nearly all end up locuming for a significant amount of time. And then, when … if, we get that partnership, we can end up re-examining why we went to Medical School in the first place, and why did we decide to be a GP? Was it because we fancied the idea of one day becoming a manager, hiring and firing staff and managing budgets? Was it because we liked the idea of reaching targets that seem to be changing on a regular basis? I suspect not. We wanted to be GPs because we enjoy the clinical aspects of care, being involved in the management of people from cradle to grave and working at the coalface of health care. So, although partnerships and salaried posts can deliver our aims, we invariably have to suffer the baggage too. And as business management is often the polar opposite to being a carer, we frequently find the more often mundane role of management to be more stressful than the highly complex and skilled task of being a GP.
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