You get good GPs and bad GPs, just like in any other profession. There is 1 GP in the practice I attend who has NEVER prescribed ABs, refused to refer etc.
He wouldn't prescribe ABs for DS1 who was repeatedly suffering from tonsillitis, and ear infections. (Through SUMMER, mind you)
He refused to refer him when I said he had such difficulty breathing at night I could ALWAYS hear him breathing from the other end of the house - 'we don't refer for snoring'....
He told a friend that her illness can't possibly be bacterial as her tonsils weren't inflamed - they would be the tonsils that were removed when she was 12?!
He does, however, have a charming bedside manner - he gets that right, at least.
Fortunately he's the only one like that in the surgery. The others look at them properly, and don't just fall back on the 'let's not prescribe ABs for anything' line.
(DS2 was treated with ABs, which saved his hearing. Saw ENT, and tonsils and adenoids removed, grommets put in and is like a new child, but still needs speech therapy due to the extended periods of deafness experienced while ill.)
The crap GP is only 1 out of 8 GPs at the surgery, and the others have all been brilliant. They take each case on a 'let's look at this case individually' basis. They will, in severe cases but where it's not really possible to know definitely whether it's viral or bacterial, write a script as a precautionary measure with instructions to fill it if there has been no improvement within X days. I have always followed their instructions, and I'd say I've filled the script less than 1 in 5 times.
I'm lucky I have the choice of GP - sadly others don't. But 1 bad GP doesn't make for a bad profession - please stop generalising like that.