Independent contractor status creates unnecessary stress, argues Azeem Majeed, GP partner and professor of primary care at Imperial College London.

Laurence Buckman, GP partner and former head of the BMA GP committee, values his autonomy and distance from a non-benign employer.

Read the full head to head:

http://www.bmj.com/content/355/bmj.i5064

We also hear from former columnist and current partner in a federated practice, Des Spence, who thinks that the days of small GP surgeries are numbered.

Independent or employed? There is a third way. . .