WHAT IS A LOCUM?
What is a locum?
A locum also known as locum tenens is a medical professional working in a temporary position at a hospital, clinic or private practice. The locum often holds the place of another medical professional providing cover, which is also what locum tenens refers to – placeholder. In layman’s terms the locum is a doctor or medical professional who freelances. Whether the person acts as substitute or just to fill a position on a temporary basis, the role of the locum doctor is crucial.
Why locums are important
Without the use of locum doctors many positions will remain unfilled, leaving gaps in service delivery jeopardizing patient care and as such employers need the services of locums.
Why make use of medical recruitment agencies?
Most locum positions are filled through the usage of medical recruitment agencies such as Medecho. Reasons for this varies, but mostly because doctors don’t have the time to search for positions while the hospitals where their services are required also don’t have the time and resources to recruit. The agency offers value added services ranging from advertising, screening and compliance and interviewing of the locum doctor. Both the hospital and the doctor benefit from our services.
Benefits of being a locum
The benefit of being a locum is that you get to choose where and when you want to work with attractive pay rates.
Some doctors become locums just after completion of their training and obtaining the required certification. This affords them the freedom to travel while gaining experience and learning from the best experts in their specific field. If the travelling takes you to another country. It may however, also mean additional training to ensure that you can fulfill the minimum requirement for instance, regulations in the UK and working in the NHS.
Once a doctor finds a location and position which fit their interests, they will have the benefit of experience in that area and may even eventually apply for one of the permanent jobs available at that hospital. It is however, not only the large hospital that makes use of the locum, but also smaller private practices where a doctor needs to take study leave, travel or simply require additional help to run the hospital efficiently.
Jobs For Locum Doctors
We make it as easy as possible to locate the most suitable locum jobs on our site. You can use the search facility to search according to specific criteria such as the career grading level, the specialty, and region. Once you have selected an appropriate position apply online.
