Behind the white coat and the crowded waiting room, the finances of a general practitioner often remain a mystery. By sharing his figures and his daily routine after 11 years in practice, a doctor based in rural France offers a rare, concrete look at what this job actually pays-and what it costs in time, energy, and personal trade-offs.
A village doctor who chose independence over a bigger salary
The GP, whom we’ll call Rami, works in the Gers, a sparsely populated area in southwestern France near the town of Auch. After several years as an employed physician in a multi-doctor clinic, he decided to go out on his own.
He now runs a small practice in the village where he grew up. The local mayor, eager to secure a much-needed doctor for residents, offered a key incentive: the town would cover the rent for his office, worth about €550 per month. For Rami, that was the push he needed to change course.
Rami traded a higher salary in a large group practice for more control over his time and a rent-free office in his home region.
In his previous job, he was one of four GPs and two specialists sharing the same medical center. The workload and the way appointments were managed didn’t work for him. He often found himself finishing visits after 8 p.m., with little time left for family or a social life.
Workweek: long days, but evenings and weekends back
As an independent GP, Rami sets his own schedule. He works every weekday from 9 a.m. to around 6 p.m. or 7 p.m. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, he runs walk-in clinic hours, accepting patients without appointments.
Those walk-in days attract not only local residents but also patients from neighboring areas, including some who no longer have an assigned primary care doctor-an increasingly common problem in parts of France.
He works about 40–45 hours a week, including two walk-in days that can be especially intense.
Most importantly for him, his evenings and weekends are now mostly free. That change alone, he says, has significantly improved his quality of life. He can see his family, meet friends, and no longer spends nights buried in paperwork and overdue visits.
How much a French GP like Rami really earns per month
So what does that pace translate to financially? After 11 years in general practice-and six years as an independent physician-Rami earns around €7,300 per month, net of his social security contributions to URSSAF, the French agency that collects contributions for social benefits.
With 40–45 hours of work a week, his take-home pay is about €7,300 a month after social charges.
That’s a strong income by French standards, but it’s about €1,000 less per month than he earned as a salaried doctor in the larger clinic. The trade-off is clear: slightly lower pay, but far more control over his schedule and working conditions.
What his visits look like in numbers
His income comes down to a simple equation: the number of patients he sees and the fee per visit.
- Average patients per day: 15 to 18
- Visit fee: €26.50
- Workdays: 5 days per week
- Weekly hours: 40–45
He could increase his income by shortening visits, taking fewer vacations, and seeing more patients per day. He knows that-and he acknowledges his monthly income could rise “significantly” with a more aggressive approach to scheduling.
But he resists that logic. Many of his patients are elderly and often have multiple conditions. He prefers to take the time to listen and avoid rushing, even if that limits his revenue.
Costs and overhead: what reduces a GP’s revenue
Rami’s headline figure of €7,300 per month is already after social contributions, but his practice still has recurring expenses.
Because of the deal with the village, he pays no rent-an especially significant savings for a rural doctor. Still, he must cover utilities and professional tools:
| Type of expense | Approximate monthly impact |
|---|---|
| Social contributions (URSSAF) | Deducted before his €7,300 net |
| Remote medical secretary service | ~€500 |
| Electricity, water, heating | Varies, typically a few hundred euros |
| Medical software and IT tools | Subscription-based, adds to fixed costs |
Recently, he decided to pay about €500 per month for a remote medical secretary service. This call center handles scheduling and phone calls so he can focus on the patient in front of him instead of constantly interrupting visits to answer the phone.
By outsourcing front-desk calls to a remote medical secretary, he buys back quiet visit time for about €500 a month.
For him, the cost is worth it, even if it slightly reduces his net income. It also avoids hiring an in-office receptionist, which would bring payroll obligations and more administrative work.
A less varied, older patient population
The biggest non-financial change in Rami’s work has been the patient mix. In the larger group practice, he saw a broad range: children, teens, working adults, and retirees. Now, around 80% of his patients are retired seniors.
That concentration has consequences. He encounters the same chronic conditions more often: high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, joint issues. There’s less variety, but also more continuity of care-something many GPs value.
For younger physicians considering a rural move, this is an important point: practicing far from major cities often means caring for a more uniform, older patient population, which can shape both the medical and emotional sides of the job.
How his numbers compare with national averages
Official data from DREES, the French health statistics agency, provides a useful benchmark. A 2017 study found that general practitioners in France generate average annual revenue of around €92,000.
National data shows wide differences in GP income depending on location, patient volume, and practice setup.
Revenue is not the same as take-home pay. From that total, GPs must pay office rent or a mortgage, equipment, staff salaries, insurance, software, and social contributions. Net income can vary widely: a doctor in a city center with high rent and staff may end up with less take-home pay than a rural GP in a subsidized building.
Rami’s situation is relatively favorable: no rent, a steady flow of patients, and the freedom to set his own pace. A colleague in an expensive urban area might need to see many more patients per day to reach the same monthly net income.
What Rami’s case suggests for future GPs about money and lifestyle
For medical students and early-career doctors, Rami’s numbers highlight a central tension: balancing income, workload, and lifestyle. A salaried job in a large clinic can pay more on paper, thanks to fixed hours, shared organization, and sometimes bonuses. But it can also mean less flexibility and longer evenings if patient flow is poorly managed.
Being self-employed offers autonomy, but it also means becoming a small business owner with all the responsibilities that come with it. Income depends directly on visit volume and cost control. Vacation time is unpaid, so taking more time off reduces annual earnings.
Two simple scenarios that change a GP’s monthly income
Rami’s numbers make it easy to do quick “what if” calculations. If he decided to increase his workload, the financial impact would be immediate:
- Scenario 1 - More patients per day: Increasing from 16 to 22 patients per day at €26.50 each adds about 6 visits daily. Over 20 workdays, that’s 120 additional visits, or €3,180 in extra revenue before charges.
- Scenario 2 - Shorter vacations: If he currently takes, for example, six weeks off per year and reduced that to four, he’d gain about two extra weeks of billable work-raising annual income without changing his weekly schedule.
These simple calculations show how sensitive an independent GP’s finances are to visit volume and time off. But Rami deliberately refuses to run his practice like an assembly line, especially given his older patient population.
Key terms and concepts behind his pay
For readers outside France, a few concepts help explain his income:
- URSSAF: The agency that collects social security contributions from self-employed professionals. These payments fund pensions, health coverage, family benefits, and other social protections.
- Conventionné GP: Most French GPs practice under an agreement with the national health insurance system, which sets standard visit fees like the €26.50 Rami charges.
- Remote medical secretary service: Outsourced call handling and schedule management, commonly used by French doctors who want to avoid the cost and paperwork of hiring in-house staff.
Understanding these mechanisms helps explain why a GP’s income isn’t simply “€26.50 times the number of patients.” Heavy social contributions and fixed practice costs strongly shape what actually ends up in the doctor’s bank account each month.
Rami’s experience highlights a reality many young doctors face: medicine is both a calling and a business. Choosing where and how to practice means weighing office deals with local governments, demographics, support staffing, phone services, and-ultimately-how much time to spend with each patient, even when that choice trims monthly income.
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