FAMILY doctors in the region earn an average of £110,000 a year before tax, according to a new survey.

That is way below the figure of £250,000 which was bandied around last month.

Accountants have stressed only a small minority of GPs in England earn this kind of salary.

However, new figures produced by Newcastle-based accountants RMT confirm that local doctors do earn more than the national average of £94,000.

The survey also reveals that more than one in four North-East GPs earn as much as £150,000.

Only about three per cent of family doctors in the region are said to be top earners.

The survey, carried out as part of the Association of Independent Specialist Medical Accountants (AISMA), covered 425 doctors at 102 practices from Scotch Corner to Berwick and Haydon Bridge to Roker.

Mike Gilbert, a partner with RMT and a former chairman of AISMA, said: "Individual earnings vary greatly for a variety of reasons such as size of practice and services offered."

Dr John Canning, a Middlesbrough GP who speaks for the British Medical Association in the region, said: "If you are a GP and live in the North-East you tend to be better paid as a GP because you tend to see more patients.

"By and large we have a larger list size in the North-East, a reflection of the higher levels of illness in the local population."

The GP said he believed the changes made by the Government to the family doctor's pay and conditions made it more attractive for newly-trained doctors to opt for a career in general practice.

Linda van Swanenberg, who oversees an international drive to bring foreign doctors to the Easington area of County Durham, said at least three GP vacancies at local practices had been filled by UK doctors in the past six months.