General Practitioner (GP)

GP's have an important role in looking after people in the community, they are part of a wider team that promotes, prevents illness and offers treatments. GP's care for people with chronic illness and long-term conditions, aiming to keep them well and in their own homes.

Each person experiences conditions slightly differently which means that the work is never boring. You'll need to dig deeper than just the obvious symptoms to understand what the patient is truly expressing.

General Practitioner (GP) is also known as Doctor.

Role Characteristics

Help people with medical or health problems by carrying out diagnosis, investigation, treatment, and referrals to other teams
Liaise with medical professionals in the community and hospital settings
Maintain confidentiality and impartiality with their patients
Promote healthy lifestyles and behaviours to the general public to encourage good health
Keep up to date with medical developments, new treatments and medications to be aware of future developments in medicine
Observe and assess the work of trainee GP's and medical students to help them learn

Skills

Active listening
Advice giving
Decision-making
Empathy
Resilience
Communication

Day in the life

Watch this video to find out more about work as a GP.

Routes into this role

Here are some example routes that can lead into this role.

GCSEs

A-Levels

Undergraduate degree

How to become

You will normally need a minimum of 8 GCSEs including English, maths, biology and chemistry.
You will normally need 3 A-Levels including chemistry and biology.
You may want to volunteer or complete work experience prior to submitting an application for medical school, to help you gain an understanding of the medical profession.
You will attend medical school and earn a degree in medicine which takes 5 years. Following your degree you'll spend two years working in a range of medical specialties before you specialise in general practice.

It is important to check your preferred course provider's entry requirements for guidance.

To practice as a GP, you must be registered with the General Medical Council (GMC).

Where can this role lead

No matter what role you start in or where you are in your career path, there are always opportunities to develop and progress in health and care.

You could specialise in areas such as sports medicine, adolescent health, diabetes or palliative medicine, get involved in research at universities, the NHS or the private sector and teach medical students or postgraduate doctors in training.

Many GP's look to become a partner within a surgery, which means that you'll take on responsibility for the business-side of the practice and will have more control over the direction the practice takes.