We’re very pleased to announce the publication of our ‘core competencies’ document Locum GPs – the skills we need and how to achieve them. So, who should read it?
- Locum GPs
- This paper celebrates the importance and skills of locum GPs. Reading it may make you feel better about the job you’re already doing and may even give you some ideas on how to further develop your hugely valuable role.
- Salaried GPs
- Hats off to salaried GPs who take on significantly more practice responsibility than locums, yet have no where near the same level of control as partners. Reading this document may make you see locuming in a different light and give you more confidence to seriously consider it should your current post not be all it was cracked up to be.
- Partners
- There’s a lot to locuming that our partner colleagues are often too busy to realise. As a partner reading this document, we hope you’ll gain even more insight into what’s involved in being a GP locum and hope you’ll be able to instigate changes to your practice that will enable locums to work safely and effectively to the full benefit of your patients and their skills.
- Registrars, AiTs, ST1/2/3 – you know who you are.
- Er, incoming news, guys. You know all that stuff you’re being taught about general practice and being a partner and all? Well, the reality is that you’re very likely to be locuming for longer than you thought, and actually working as a locum can be pretty tough. Your interface with patients will be quite different too, and if you’re serious about being a good GP there’s a lot that this document can tell you about working as a GP locum. Even in the very unlikely event that you locum for just a few months, there’s no excuse not to be prepared.
- Leaders of Sessional GP Groups
- You are the unsung heroes of general practice, providing a leadership role for GPs who otherwise may completely be without any support or structure to their professional lives. We hope this document will help you to distil what you already know about working as a GP locum and pass on to your group.
- GP tutors, trainers, course organisers etc
- Just because it’s not on the curriculum, it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Read this document. Make your own decision.
- RCGP & BMA
- 25% of all GPs work as locums, loads of us are your members yet there has been very little investment by our profession in the development of anything to make a tangible difference to the daily lives of busy locums trying to provide excellent care to our patients. Please read this document, accept that your respective AiT committee and Sessional GP Committees both made excellent and supportive contributions to the document, endorse the document and work with NASGP to ensure that working as a GP locum becomes as palatable and as acceptable as working as a GP principal.
