24/02/2025
So often as a GP I hear people theorise that all GPs must be making extraordinary amounts of money profiting off the illness and misfortune of their patients. Apparently these greedy GPs can afford to purchase million dollar houses with cash, drive expensive cars and send their children to elite private schools.
This is just not the reality for many GPs, and I wanted to give everyone a concrete example of this.
General Practice is a specialty that attracts female doctors seeking a work-life balance that is often elusive in other specialty training. The prospect of working regular hours, having weekends off, and choosing when to take leave is an incredible luxury that hospital based doctors in training just do not have.
So letâs look at the âaverageâ income potential of a female GP who works part time while also juggling motherhood.
Jane is a 34 year old female GP. Sheâs a mother of two children aged 6 and 3. Her 6 year old is in the first year of prep, while her 3 year old attends child care.
Jane works in a universal bulk billing clinic four days a week between the hours of 9:30am and 2:30pm. This enables her to drop off her children at school and childcare and then finish in time to collect them afterwards.
As a female GP, Jane is in demand. Like most female GPs she sees a disproportionately high number of mental health patients, women and small children. With the average female GP consult taking approximately 17 minutes, Jane is somehow able to squeeze in 4 patients per hour.
Because Jane sees and bulk bills 4 patients, she accepts the patients Medicare rebate of $40 per patient as complete payment for her services. This is equal to $160 per hour.
Letâs assume Jane works throughout the day without taking a break, seeing patients back to back every 15 minutes, which is not realistically possible. In her 5 hours of work she sees 20 patients. At $40 per patient she has billed $800 for the day.
However, because Jane is a sole trading GP contracted by the practice, she doesnât take home the full $800. The practice she works at takes 35% of her billings as a service fee for providing her the rooms, equipment, computer, reception staff and nursing support. She then also pays a 10% GST to the practice on top of the service fee, amounting to a further 3.5% of her gross billings.
Jane hence takes 61.5% of her billings, which amounts to $492 dollars per day or $98 per hour. For her 4 day working week Jane earns $1968 in pre-tax income.
Jane now has to pay the $130 per day fee that the childcare centre charges for her 3 year old to attend while she works. Thatâs $520 a week.
As a small business, Jane now also has to put aside money for her anticipated quarterly tax bill. This is usually 25-30% of her pre-tax income. Thatâs usually $500 a week.
As a small business Jane gets no paid superannuation. She needs to make personal contributions if she hopes to have any money saved for her retirement. She tries to put 10% of her pre-tax income aside for this but sometimes itâs hard because the cost of living is so high that current expenses often take priority over future savings. Thatâs an additional $196 a week.
As a GP Jane also needs to ensure that she keeps her AHPRA registration and RACGP membership up to date. Each cost $1000 annually. If this $2000 cost is split across the year itâs around $40 a week.
But thatâs not the biggest cost. As a GP Jane is legally obligated to ensure that she has up to date medical indemnity insurance to protect her in case she is sued for medical negligence. The average fellowed non-procedural GP will pay approximately $9-10,000 per year for this. If this cost is split across the year itâs around $175 a week.
Jane is a part time female GP with a young family. She wants to ensure that her children are taken care of if something was to happen to her. She considers Protection Income Insurance but realises that she cannot afford it on her current earnings.
Jane, as a young mother, needs to take the school holidays off to spend with her young children, as putting both in care would be unaffordable. For ten weeks of the year she is therefore earning no income at all, as like all small business owners she does not get any paid leave.
Jane also has to take numerous days off throughout the year when her 3 year old picks up the many viruses circulating at childcare. Naturally, when she has to cancel her working day she doesnât get any sick leave. No work, no pay.
Jane is a part time female GP with a young family. She works 4 days a week, seeing 20 patients per day in a 5 hour window.
Her take home billings per week minus service charge is $1968 per week.
Once she pays for childcare, tax, personal super contribution, professional memberships, and indemnity insurance she is left with $537 a week.
Ask yourself, do you think it is fair for someone of Janeâs qualifications to have $537 a week once all the expenses/fees which enable her to work as a bulk billing doctor have been subtracted?
And for 10 of those weeks there will be NO INCOME at all because Jane takes unpaid leave to care for her children.
Now imagine if Jane was a single parent with a mortgage, school fees, groceries, clothing bills and every other expense weighing on her neck.
Yes there are some universal bulk billing GPs who will make a good earning from churning through a patient every 6 minutes working 12 hour days.
That is not the feasible reality for many young female GPs trying to juggle their careers and motherhood.
There is a gender gap in general practice and itâs the female GPs in universal bulk billing clinics who bear the brunt of it and are punished for complex care. Because cervical and sexual screening, peri/menopause care and mental health consults never take 6 minutes.
Please remember that whenever anyone spouts the âgreedy GPâ narrative.
- Sara
This post is dedicated to all female GPs navigating a system that doesnât appreciate their provision of complex care.