Careers advice
What options are available as a portfolio GP?
Caroline replies . . .
Although there is the potential for variety in all specialties, general practice is the specialty where it is most straightforward to establish a varied career. Firstly, there is huge variety in the nature of the work depending on the sort of GP practice you join. For example, a GP in a small rural practice will have different patients and interactions with their colleagues compared to a GP who works in a larger inner city primary care centre, where there may be as many as 15 GPs. Your working life will also differ according to whether you are a salaried GP or whether you become a partner, and therefore take a more active role in the management of the practice.
But this is just for starters. As you rightly imply, the main way in which being a GP offers great scope for variety is that it