Part-time women general practitioners--workload and remuneration

Abstract

A postal questionnaire survey was conducted comparing the workload and remuneration of part-time women principals in group practices in the Northern and Oxford regions. Part time was defined as receiving less than a full profit share at parity. Of 501 women principals 308 (62%) responded of whom 146 (47%) were part-time. Respondents were asked to record aspects of workload over a four-week period for themselves and their full-time partner who did the most sessions within the practice. The results showed that although two-thirds of the part-timers had 50% or less of a full profit share, part-time principals overall did about 76% of the daytime clinical work (surgeries and home visits) done by their full-time partners, excluding specialized clinics. The lower the profit share the wider this discrepancy. Although 33% of the respondents did not out-of-hours work, the remainder did more than their profit share would indicate. Twenty per cent of the 116 principals with 40% or more of a full profit share and 57% of the 30 principals with less than 40% of a full profit share felt that their share was unfair. Lack of involvement in practice business and feeling that opinions did not carry equal weight were associated with feelings of unfairness.