How should doctors be employed?

Abstract

After last week’s question about whether GPs should retain their gatekeeper role (doi:10.1136/bmj.i5272), this week we ask whether all GPs should become NHS employees in the same way hospital doctors are. With the bitter dispute between junior doctors in England and the government now entering a “cold war” (doi:10.1136/bmj.i5213), opting for direct NHS employment may seem like recklessness. In our latest Head to Head debate Azeem Majeed is more positive about the proposition (doi:10.1136/bmj.i5064). Over a quarter of GPs in England are already salaried, but most of …