The doctors I know entered the medical profession to be of service to suffering mankind. Some believed medicine was their vocation from God.

I was rather shocked, therefore, to read in The Argus (March 23), quoting from the medical magazine Doctor, the comments of certain general practitioners complaining about the NHS.

One is reported as saying: "When the job starts interfering with family, then family come first".

Any doctor will tell you the general practitioner's job has always obtruded on normal family life. Every job has its downside.

The situation is not as bad as it was, with the growth of group practices and relief doctor schemes. In any case, there are other caring professions, such as the clergy, who face the same problems - incidentally, without the same remuneration.

The comments of a GP from Sutton Coldfield really appalled me. To say of the Government's recent financial incentive scheme, "Take your offer and shove it.

They would have to add a zero for me to even seriously think about it", was totally unprofessional and unworthy of a highly educated woman.

Thank God for all the doctors I know who give selfless service to the community. They are the salt of the earth. So, too, are their families, who understand fully the pressures of being a GP and wonderfully support dad or mum in their work.

Whatever its faults our NHS is the finest in the world and the front line soldiers of that service are the GPs.

-Reverend John Webster, Gleton Avenue, Hove