How Locum Agencies Can Help To Fill the Gaps in Out-of-Hours GP Rotas

Due to the growing GP recruitment crisis, as many as 60% of out of hours healthcare providers are struggling to fill empty spaces in their GP rotas.  As they are failing to fill shifts, many out-of-hours providers are also failing to meet national quality requirements.

In light of the increased ‘in-hours’ workloads of GPs, combined with the rising costs of indemnity insurance, the recruitment of out-of-hours GPs is becoming progressively more difficult. Many GPs are simply too tired from their normal working hours to accept extra out-of-hours shifts, whilst even finding agency staff to cover these shifts is becoming difficult.

Due to indemnity fees spiralling almost constantly upwards over the past 2 years, for many doctors, out-of-hours shifts are simply not financially feasible. If GPs are to work 30 out-of-hours sessions a year, if they are to work anymore shifts, they must work for nothing until they achieve 50 out-of-hours sessions just to be able to pay the indemnity premium. This has become a huge problem, as it is actually costing doctors to work out-of-hours.

For many GPs, in addition to the financial implications of working out-of-hours sessions, they are simply too tired to commit to working further hours after a long day’s work. With the huge workloads of many practices, and the sheer volumes of patients and paperwork that they must face every day, doctors don’t want to work as out-of-hours GPs as they will not be able to provide the high quality of care that patients are entitled to.

One the main problems facing many providers of out-of-hours healthcare is that they prefer to employ locally based GPs with a familiarity for local health services in a particular area, however, fewer and fewer GPs are interested in working out of hours. They must therefore turn to locum healthcare providers.

Locum agencies are able to find the right candidates to match each particular GP placement. Some locum GP candidates may prefer to work out-of-hours shifts as they allow them to be more flexible. Due to the high wages paid by locum agencies, the financial implications of working out-of-hours are less for locum GPs. Locum Select, a specialist locum healthcare recruitment agency based in Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands, are one of the highest payers for out-of-hours shifts.

If you would like to find out more about the GP locum service provided by Locum Select, whether you are a GP looking for out of hours locum work or you are a healthcare provider with temporary vacancies, feel free to telephone Locum Select on 0121 308 5125 or visit the Locum Select website.