Patients are now very aware of their right to complain, and then one has to go through the procedure of defending oneself, which can be very lengthy with letters, reports, hearing etc – that causes yet more sleepless nights.We don’t spend enough on health care in this country. I’d be prepared to turn out if I got paid extra, though I’d still prefer to have weekends with my family and sleep all night. I work every third Saturday morning, do one night per week, and cover every third weekend, which means being on call for four days over those weekends.I do my own night calls, and I wouldn’t want to withdraw that service, but one cannot work round the clock. The middle-class young, especially, can be quite demanding – the attitude of “We shop in Sainsbury’s late at night and at weekends, so we ought to be able to call up a GP at all hours.”I work an average day from 8.50am to 6.50pm four days a week.I get most of Thursday off, except for an hour-and-a-half spent on paperwork. If one knows, for example, that a mother has lost a baby from a cot death in the past, you take it into account if she calls you out But people’s respect for doctors has changed.

And I do get satisfaction out of making a correct diagnosis in the middle of the night. Patients’ attitudes and expectations have changed, aided by government campaigns such as the Patients’ Charter. I’d like to think that the service I provide would fulfil all its criteria, but it ought to be more of a two-way thing. We doctors should have rights as well.It’s not that I ever expected to earn a fortune – I don’t. There’s a lot of frustration caused by unwarranted criticism, unjustified demands and some unpleasant people I have to deal with.Once upon a time, a research paper would be published in a medical journal and subject to peer review; now, these things are published in the Sunday papers, over-simplified and taken as gospel.

He qualified in 1987I’d always wanted to be a doctor because, as I grew up, I saw my father’s life and job as satisfying and fulfilling I wish I could say it’s been the same for me. I really enjoy the job, even though occasionally I’m driven to the furthest extreme of my energy and capacity – certainly, I get home pretty tired.Dr Robert Blundell Jr, 32, works in a fund-holding practice – the system in which GPs manage their own budgets and buy many medical services directly for their patients – in Hawkhurst, Kent, a village of 5,000 people His practice covers 100 square miles. As far as I’m concerned, it’s reasonable to call a doctor out at night if you’re genuinely worried, even if it turns out to be trivial.I’ve never, ever considered leaving medicine I did think about going abroad, but not to leave medicine. I don’t particularly enjoy night work but it has always been part of the job.