FAQ: Why does NASGP recommend cancellation charges and long notice periods?

It may seem counterintuitive, but long notice periods, and deterrents to cancelling sessions at short notice, are a Good Thing for both practices and locums. Whereas having a short notice period, with little or no penalty, soon works against recruitment and retention, and overall stability of the practices and workforce, that the NASGP is trying to cultivate.

Short cancellation periods

Let’s take a look first at why these can be bad for a local healthcare economy.

On first inspection, a locum might want to set a short notice period to make themself more attractive to practices – if the practice changes their mind, the practice avoids an unnecessary cost. But it’s not often that the need for a locum suddenly disappears, it’s often because they’ve found a cheaper locum.

This opens up the opportunity for practices to ‘game’ bookings, booking locums with a short notice period whilst still keeping an eye out for a cheaper locum should one come along nearer the time.

Whist saving some money for the practice, it can have a far more significant impact on you as the locum – all of a sudden, this month’s income can be significantly reduced or, worse still, completely non-existent. This only needs to happen to you once for you to make significant change to your practise.

If practices are cancelling at short notice, it can create a culture where locums expect to do the same if something else more ‘attractive’ comes up

The asymmetrical impact of short notice cancellations on GP locum

NASGP argues that there is an imbalance when it comes to short notice cancellations which favours practices.

• A late cancellation made by a practice has little or no impact on the practice. However this can be immediately financially devastating for a locum.
• On the other hand, a late cancellation made by a locum has immediate impact on both parties – the locum losing income and risking reputation damage, and the practice losing cover for its patients.
• There are strong professional, reputational and financial disincentives for locums to cancel
• For these reasons, a late cancellation initiated by a locum is unusual and will usually only be entered into for significant, unavoidable reasons such as illness, or an adverse life event.

So there’s an imbalance – we hear more from GP locums about practices being easily enabled, as a feature of an online platform or by the facelessness of WhatsApp groups, to cancel GPs at short notice.

The case for longer cancellation policies

Longer cancellation policies act as a deterrent to some practices booking ‘just in case’, meaning the locum is more likely to be usefully deployed rather than finding themselves suddenly without work and a role in patient care. It creates better stability and security in the workforce. It also helps keep locum rates down – if you look at other service providers (like locums) – e.g. airlines and hotels – flexible ‘cancel any time’ fares/rates are more expensive ~ 20% more than their regular rates, because they have to factor in empty seats/rooms to remain economically viable.