Four GPs paid £1m a year during Covid, NHS figures reveal

At least four GPs were paid more than one million pounds 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 the number of GPs paid one million pounds or more, claiming it may identify them, but confirmed it was under five.

The figures, first published by the Sun, also revealed that at least two doctors received between £800,000 to £850,000, and another two between £850,000 and £900,000.

In all, 8,593 GPs in England received more than £100,000 in the year 2021-2022.

It is thought extra demand during the pandemic and a rise in the number of chains of surgeries fuelled doctors’ wages.

Jonathan Eida, of TaxPayers’ Alliance, 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 in how taxpayers’ money is spent, 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 that on average, GPs’ earnings rose by 23 per cent in a decade to a record £118,000.

The average GP’s income before tax in England was £118,100 in the 2021/22 financial year, up from £95,700 a decade ago in 2011/12.

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

The senior NHS doctors have voted 83 per cent in favour of an improved offer after the first deal put to members was narrowly defeated earlier this year.

The British Medical Association had paused strikes while negotiations took place after an initial pay offer was voted against by 51 per cent to 49 per cent in January.

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 along with junior doctors, who remain in a dispute.

Junior doctors are seeking a pay rise worth up to 35 per cent a year.