Response

Thank you for reading the article and forwarding your comments. On-call work for gastroenterologists (in terms of both specialist and general work) is mentioned in the text although I have not included the calculations for on-call payments. Currently, in our trust, general physicians are paid 1 PA to take part in an on-call rota 1:13 weekdays and 1:6.5 nights. In light of the fact that gastroenterologists also participate in endoscopy out of hours, we have a 75% commitment to the on-call rota (0.75 PAs) as well as taking part in a 1:8 endoscopy rota (paid 0.25 PAs).

Circumstances will vary at different trusts so this pattern of work (and remuneration) only reflects our trust’s position and was not necessarily relevant to the wider NHS. I am, nevertheless, grateful to the reader for raising this important point.

Conflicts of interest

The author has no conflicts of interest to declare.