salvadory- Of course doctors earn a very comfortable wage compared to most of the population (once fully qualified) but I don't think it's fair to compare them to the average person. They have to do v well academically to get a place at med. school, spend 5 or 6 years studying, building up lots of student debt and then many years gaining experience before becoming a Consultant. If you compare the wage of a Consultant to comparable professionals with similar levels of intelligence, responsibility and experience (city solicitors, accountants in top firms, etc, doctors get paid much less). The number of male medical undergraduates has been falling for years because these young men are choosing to go into these alternative professionals where they can earn a lot more money. Obviously, doctors are never going to be paid private sector wages and I wouldn't argue that they should be but it is fairer to compare them to these professionals than the average person. After all, I'm sure you would want the most intelligent, highly skilled person choosing your child's chemotherapy regime or putting stents into your father's arteries when he has a heart attack. I sure would!
GPs do earn a good wage, I agree (probably 50-60 hours a week full time- not 5 half days- march21) and can be a Partner from their late 20s but Consultants take another 10 years or so to qualify. Not all of them do private work. It very much depends on the specialty, the area in which they live, etc. They also have to pay huge sums in medical indemnity to do private work so the gross may be very good for some but the expenses will also be very high.
I do have to take you up on what you said about being paid lots for anti social hours. They pay per hour is actually very poor. I got paid around £3.70 per hour for out of hours work when I was a house officer. The cleaner was on £10 on Christmas day, etc, the doctors on call were on a lot less. Even doctors with lots of experience get paid a very low hourly rate.
akissisnotacontract- interesting what you said about encouraging your DC into dentistry rather than medicine. I have to say that I still think of Medicine as a vocation and not one that I would have traded in for a higher wage/ shorter hours in dentistry.