NHS GP Locum Teams - a proposal for Virtual GP Practices.

GP locums are leading the way for professional equity by developing a model for a voluntary system to fully integrate all general practitioners into the quality assurance systems of both the profession and the National Health Service.

This new paradigm of Locum Teams, developed by the National Association of Non-Principals, provides locums with an additional choice allowing them to work as a team in addition to, or instead of, their traditional way of working. Locums working within these teams could be able to access information showing their prescribing patterns, data on the quality of care they provide and access to, and provision of, continuing professional development - all systems otherwise very difficult for GP locums to participate in.

Our model suggests a mechanism for the establishment of professionally led teams of locums - and working within Primary Care Groups/Trusts (or their local equivalents) that dove-tail all new and existing means for ensuring the quality of care provided by every GP. Each locum can exist in a professional partnership environment with other locums, managed by their appointed clinical governance manager who co-ordinates the continuing professional development of the individuals and group through audit, continuing medical education and feedback.

Dr Richard Fieldhouse, NASGP chairman, said, "We know that the New NHS will demand more in the way of clinical governance from locums, and this concept of a 'Virtual Practice' is our way of providing locums the choice for an alternative means of practising as GPs that better enfranchises them in to clinical governance and all other systems in primary care".

Locums would at last be able to fully and equitably participate in all quality assurance mechanisms such as clinical governance, GMC revalidation and appraisal. We encourage all interested general practitioners - both principals and non-principals - to consider this model as a template for local discussion. We also expect that other professionals such as nurses could be involved in such a system.

Interested parties are invited to read our document available on our website at www.nasgp.org.uk/reports   .

The NASGP Newsletter is kindly funded by an educational grant from the Medical Protection Society

© NASGP 2009