The article’s subheadline read: “You wouldn’t expect a builder to do a job on the side for free, or ask a lawyer to do some extra work without being paid for it. So why should it be any different for GPs.”

Non-core services can include taking certain types of heart recording, spirometry, a lung function test, and removing stitches after operations.

They have traditionally been considered among the general tasks expected of family doctors, but under the current NHS framework they do not trigger a payment from the centre.

In a different GP Online article, the services were described as “vital”.

A previous poll found that more than two-thirds of practices provide the non-core services.

‘General practice is under tremendous pressure’

“This is completely unacceptable,” said Dr Jameel. “General practice is under tremendous pressure as it is, without having to take on activity that is not funded.”

She added that it was “not in a doctor’s nature to refuse to treat patients”.

The past comments attracted criticism, with the TaxPayers’ Alliance saying: “The determination to pull out all the stops to help patients is one of the most admirable things about the NHS, but that is being threatened by BMA bean counting.”

The first woman to be elected chair of the BMA’s General Practice Committee for England, Dr Jameel triumphed over one other candidate, Dr Chandra Kanneganti, a Conservative councillor and Lord Mayor of Stoke-on-Trent.

Born in the United Arab Emirates, she replaces Dr Richard Vautrey, who was seen as a more conciliatory voice in negotiations with the government.