A DERBYSHIRE GP earned £300,859 in a year and eight others got more than £200,000, new figures reveal.

This has prompted the chairman of a Derby patient group to call for the money to be shared between more doctors.

The six-figure sums have been defended by a local GP, who said high-earning doctors worked hard and often ran several practices or were also responsible for managing pharmacies.

GPs are not employed by the NHS but instead run their practices as independent businesses and get paid a set amount a year for each patient by local health authorities.

Dr John Grenville, secretary of Derbyshire Local Medical Committee, said the figures did not represent salaries but were the net profit left after paying the cost of overheads.

He said some of the cash would remain in the business but the figures gave an indication of the GPs' salaries.

But the chairman of Derby heart patient support group Take Heart, Michael Flude, said the earnings were "excessive".

He said: "The average patient would just like to see their GP within 48 hours and that's often not possible, but if there's that sort of money around then more doctors could be employed and more patients seen.

"GPs don't even provide out-of-hours care any more. When my wife came out of hospital after having major heart problems we called the GP and were told to go down to the surgery.

"You don't get the service you used to."

Dr Grenville said there were several reasons why some GPs made more profit than others.

He said: "Some run two businesses, their surgery and a pharmacy, because there is not one in the area.

"There are some doctors who run several different practices. They employ doctors who are not involved in running the business.

"They tend to make more profit but then they have to run a business so they're working quite hard."

He said 20 per cent of GPs' salaries went straight into their pensions, adding: "Yes, we have good pensions, but we don't half pay for them."

The figures were released under the Freedom of Information Act by NHS Derby City and NHS Derbyshire County for the financial year ending March 2009.

The highest GP salary in Derbyshire for the year ending March 2008 was £289,689, £283,230 the previous year and £276,769 the year before that.

The trusts said they could not reveal the names of the GPs for reasons of confidentiality.

The amount doctors get paid per patient is more if the patient is likely to need extra care, for example an elderly person in a nursing home.

But the payment remains the same regardless of whether a person goes to the doctor every day or not at all.