Does Working As A Locum Provide GPs With A Better Work-Life Balance And Therefore Improve Their Morale?

A recent survey by the British Medical Association shows that GPs are more likely than any other branch of medical practice to experience low morale. The results of the BMA poll show that almost three quarters (72.8%) of GPs currently feel that their workload is not only unmanageable, but also unsustainable.

This figure is almost double that of consultants, of whom only 40% felt that their current workload was unmanageable or unsustainable, considering they were the second most likely group of medical practitioners to feel this way. It is therefore not a surprise that GPs were also found to have the lowest morale of any group of doctors.

The results of the BMA poll found that roughly 40% of all doctors described themselves as experiencing low morale, however, GP morale was found to be lowest of all. On a scale of one being very low morale, to five being high morale, GPs scored an average of 2.38, suggesting that low morale within general practice is widespread.

Given that so many GPs feel that their workload is unmanageable and they are experiencing diminished morale, GPs have also been found to be the least satisfied group of doctors in terms of their work life balance. Around 55% of GPs admitted to always working beyond their normal expected hours of work over the past month; as with their overall morale, this is a much higher percentage than in any other branch of medical practice.

Given that so many GPs feel overworked and generally unhappy with their profession, it comes as no surprise that 44% have considered early retirement, or at least quitting general practice before they reach retirement age.

With GP morale at an all-time low, increasing numbers of GPs are deciding against full-time positions, and are instead deciding to work on a locum basis. Locum GPs generally have a much higher morale than full-time general practice doctors as they are able to manage their own work load so that it is sustainable for them.

Due to being able to pick and choose placements from locum agencies, Locums are able to benefit from considerable flexibility in their schedule, so if they choose, they can work consistently for a long period, before taking some time off to be able to properly unwind, or even working on a more sporadic basis. Working as a locum does not have anywhere near the same level of pressures of working as a full-time GP, allowing individuals to enjoy a much healthier work-life balance.

If you are a GP and feel that your current workload is unmanageable and are experiencing low morale, you can visit the Locum Select website to find out more about how being a locum GP could benefit you.

What Can Be Done About The Current GP Trainee Shortage?

A recent report from the Health Education England has confirmed that GP recruitment levels are well below target and England’s GP workforce is actually shrinking.  This news is worrying, though it accurately reflects the thoughts of GP leaders, who have been concerned about the growing pressures on primary care in recent years.  But why are the levels of doctors falling?

·         Many doctors are retiring and wish to take a step back from the demands of full-time general practice

·         A growing number of doctors are leaving the service to start families and are taking time out to raise their young children

·         Many trainees are choosing to specialise in a particular area as opposed to joining general practice

·         Growing numbers of trainees are not completing their training on time

Health Education England’s report, known as ‘Securing the Future GP Workforce’, has a number of suggestions on how to rectify the current GP trainee shortage:

·         GP recruitment has been stuck at just 2,700 per year in recent years, however this target needs to increase to 3,250

·         The number of speciality training posts may need to be cut in order to ensure that medical graduates undertake general practice training

·         General practice needs to be promoted more widely as a career to students at secondary school as well as medical school.  Encouraging medical students to consider general practice during their foundation training may also help to increase recruitment levels.

The report strongly outlines the need to reduce the number of trainees in speciality areas in order to support the Government’s plan to transfer care away from hospitals.  Changes will need to be made in terms of education investment and a carefully devised plan will need to be put into place in order for appropriate timescales to be met.

Whilst many GPs may be looking to reduce their hours in order to improve their work-life balance, working on a locum basis may be a practical option.  Doctors who are approaching retirement age and wish to work on a part-time basis, or parents of young children who wish to work flexible hours which can fit around their family may find that locum work can fit in to their lifestyle.  This solution can also benefit the NHS as an increased number of doctors can stay within general practice, helping to ease the current GP shortage.

To find out more about life as a locum GP or to find out how to register with a locum GP agency, feel free to take a look at the Locum Select website. 

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.

Are GPs At Breaking Point? How New Reforms Are Affecting GP Practices

Due to financial cutbacks, considerable numbers of patients could be without a family doctor within the next few years, as many surgeries are faced with possible closure. It has become commonplace in some GP practices for patients to regularly have to wait for up to two weeks just to see a GP for a routine consultation.

Due to further cutbacks that were put into action in April, the British Medical Association warns that up to 100 GP practices could face closure in as little as a few years. Many practices are no longer able to provide the level of care that patients need, with some GPs seeing around 60 patients a day. When considering the calls that GPs must make and take, the paper work that they must complete as well as home visits to patients that are not capable of making their way to the surgery, this leaves GPs no longer than 10 minutes to spend with each patient.

Some GPs have faced such pressure from government cutbacks that they have been forced to make their boundaries smaller, leaving patients from outside these boundaries to find a new GP. However, for some patients, it is not a simple task to find another local practice that can take on new patients, as a neighbouring practice may be in a similar situation where their books are too full for them to be able to take on new patients.

For some people living in rural communities, their local GP surgery closing or shrinking its boundaries could leave them having to travel quite a distance to visit a doctor, and for some patients, this may not be possible.

With a growing population, and people generally living longer, patient demand is increasing and a lot of GPs are feeling considerable strain as their patient load and work load continues to increase. This has led to larger numbers of GPs deciding to retire early, or ever increasingly, working as locum doctors, whilst some young doctors decide against general practice altogether, preferring to work in hospitals and other healthcare facilities.

Locum GPs can benefit from flexibility in their schedules, as they can choose work placements that last anywhere between just a few days or a number of months. One of the key advantages that locum GPs can have is that they are able to take longer leaves of absence, allowing them to relax for longer periods of time, unlike fulltime GPs who cannot take long periods of annual leave at a time, and therefore, often can’t find enough time to fully unwind.

With pressure building on General Practices, it is likely that GPs will need to take leaves of absence to cope with the strains of their job. In this case, practices would be required to hire a locum GP in their place whilst they are away.

To find out more about locum healthcare, you can visit the Locum Select website.  

Hay Fever Is On The Rise, But Is It Worth A Visit To Your GP?

GP Online have reported recently that the number of hay fever sufferers who have visited their GP over the last couple of weeks has doubled since the same time last year.  But how will GP practices cope, and do you really need to visit a GP if you are suffering from hay fever?

Any kind of epidemic or seasonal illness such as the Norovirus and hay fever will inevitably increase pressure on a GP practice.  Whilst many patients have a genuine need to see a doctor, many may find that they can relieve their symptoms by speaking to a pharmacist and taking over the counter medicines.  In the case of highly contagious infections such as the Norovirus, it is usually recommended that patients in fact stay away from their local GP practice, so as to prevent the infection from spreading.

To cope with the increased demand from patients, GP practices are turning to using GP locum agencies to try to ensure that as many patients are seen as possible within the recommended timescales.  Some practices may just need to hire GP locums for a couple of weeks to cover extremely busy periods, but as the summer approaches, many GPs will inevitably be wishing to take annual leave.  This leaves a number of appointments which are needed to be covered, so if you need to visit your GP this summer, you may find that you will be seen by a locum.

Hay fever is caused by a person having an allergic reaction to pollen, and different types of pollen are prevalent at different times of the year.  Mid-June does seem to see the peak of hay fever due to the types of pollen which are in the atmosphere, and weather forecasters have stated that the pollen count has been slightly higher than usual for June 2014. 

Common symptoms of hay fever include sneezing, runny or blocked nose, itchy eyes, throat and ears plus a cough.  Persistent symptoms can make you feel miserable and become cumbersome, but if possible it’s best to keep away from the GP’s surgery and instead persevere with over the counter remedies until the pollen levels begin to die down.

Further details about locum GPs can be found at the Locum Select website.

Diabetes Week Set To Run 8-14 June 2014

Here at Locum Select we are helping to raise awareness of Diabetes Week which is running from 8 to 14 June 2014.  The aim of the week is to raise awareness of diabetes and increase fundraising to allow further research into the condition.  Social media networks will no doubt be full of Tweets and Facebook posts about different fundraising activities which are planned up and down the country, and diabetes charities are also using the week to promote various products which have been designed to make the lives of diabetes patients much easier.

Diabetes is a common condition amongst people within the UK, and the number of people being diagnosed is unfortunately increasing year on year.  Figures from a report by Diabetes UK show that back in 1996 there were reported to be 1.4 million diabetes patients within the UK, but this looks set to increase to over 4 million people by 2025.  This is going to have a huge impact on the health of the population and will also cost the NHS an alarming amount of money. 

There are two main types of diabetes – Type 1 and Type 2.  Type 1 affects just 10% of patients and is usually diagnosed before the patient reaches the age of 40.  The patient is unable to naturally produce insulin, a hormone which helps glucose to enter cells where it can then be used by the body as fuel.  Patients who develop Type 2 diabetes can produce a small amount of insulin, but it may not be enough to work effectively.  Type 2 diabetes often develops as a result of genes, diet and lifestyle choices.

It is highly important that people are educated on the risks of diabetes, plus how they can change their lifestyle so as to manage and perhaps reduce the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes.  Type 2 diabetes often develops if a patient is overweight and under-active, there is a history of diabetes within the family, the patient smokes and if they have poor blood pressure control.

Type 2 diabetes can often be controlled by making changes to the diet and lifestyle, though many patients will need to take medication to control their insulin levels.  Increasing the awareness of diabetes can help patients to manage their condition in order to reduce the risk of other serious health conditions developing as a side effect.

At Locum Select we encourage everyone to take responsibility for their own health and lifestyle – eat a balanced, nutritious diet, carry out two or three hours of exercise each week, stop smoking, reduce alcohol intake and be aware of any health concerns.  If a person feels they may be developing symptoms of diabetes, such as needing to urinate more often, increased thirst, extreme tiredness or unexplained weight loss, then it’s vital they see their GP as soon as possible in order to gain the correct diagnoses.

Locum Select are a locum agency providing GPs and nurses to various health practices across the Midlands.  For further details, feel free to visit the website. 

How A Locum GP Might Save Your Life

An article in the news recently caught our eye as it emphasised how a Locum doctor may be better placed to deal with patients and diagnose conditions.  This is not to say anything against a patient’s usual GP, only that it may be a good thing to be presented with a locum when visiting your local surgery.

A Locum GP will have a fresh approach to the situation, asking more questions than the patient’s regular doctor as they have no previous experience of treating the patient and therefore want to make sure they get all the background information necessary.  In the case of Ali Stunt, a former geochemist from Surrey, a Locum doctor was able to make a lifesaving decision, referring Mrs Stunt to a pancreatic surgeon who diagnosed a 5cm cancerous tumour on the pancreas.  Three previous visits to her GP practice had resulted in the wrong diagnosis of IBS and stomach irritation.

Mrs Stunt said:

‘You hear so many negative things about locums missing things — but I think the fact that I was seen by someone who was looking at me through a fresh pair of eyes, and who was perhaps more up-to-date in their knowledge, saved my life.’

A quarter of the workforce is made up of Locums and it is great to hear the positive side of seeing a doctor who may not be your usual GP but who is just as capable, if not more so, of dealing with your concerns.

You can read the full article in the Daily Mail. 

To find out more about the service provided by Locum Select, feel free to visit the website.