Knowledgebase

Ten top tips for doing your first sessions as a GP locum

Delegate, arrive early, and never cut corners: Dr Leila Saeed advises on ten things she wishes she'd known.

‘We want to put locum myths to bed’: Prof Kieran Walshe, GP locum researcher

Prof Kieran Walshe explains how NIHR-funded research into locums could change work for GP locums.

Working as a salaried GP

Frequently-asked questions about practice, paperwork and training as a salaried GP.

How to approach a practice manager about salaried work

Gary Hughes is a practice manager and partner with 12 years’ experience. He explains how practices like his are coping with the pandemic, how Covid-19 has affected their outlook for using locums, and his advice on how to get a salaried post at a GP practice you like

Working as a GP locum

Everything any GP needs to know about stepping into the exciting world of working as a GP locum

How GP locums handle ‘difficult’ consultations

Dr Leila Saeed has been a GP locum and a salaried GP in different parts of the UK and spends three days a week as a clinical educator

Five things sessional GPs want in 2021 – NASGP survey results

2020 was the most unusual year for locums yet – not just in terms of the clinical challenges, but also because of lost and cancelled work.

Q&A: Keeping steady sessional income during Covid-19 when you work as a GP locum

Like many locums, Dr Smith lost work when Covid-19 hit. But by May, he was back to normal. Find out how he coped – and why he helped practices cancel his sessions

How to set up a locum chambers

An experienced Stoke GP, Dr Ohja explains how to start a new NASGP Locum Chambers in an area without one.

What do you need from the NASGP this year?

What can we do to better support GP locums this year? We’ve launched a new two-minute survey to find out.

How GPs can reduce the risk of missed diagnosis

My advice? Stick to your guns and believe in your gut.

Q&A: What is a chambers meeting?

NASGP chair Dr Richard Fieldhouse explains how chambers meetings work, where GPs meet, how long they talk for, and why discussing complaints is so important

NASGP CV builder

Get a fresh new CV in minutes with NASGP's free tool for members. 

How to make the most of a career coach

Uncertain work and finances can create stress, writers Dr Caroline Walker, but 2020 might be a fertile year for GP locums to reassess your portfolio career – or even make decisions about a salaried role – with a coach.

‘We’re paratroopers, we’re supposed to be surrounded’: starting off as a GP locum

Dr Richard Fieldhouse, NASGP chairman, explains how to start a career as a GP locum.

GPs are still hard at work – whether the Government knows it or not

Jaws dropped when an MP blithely remarked that GPs could safely ‘recommence’ face-to-face services in a ‘regular’ manner in Parliament the other day, Dr Richard Fieldhouse writes.

Salaried GP contract checklist

This ‘practice CV’ template that provides GP locums with a checklist of questions to ask before signing a contract.

Q&A: Dr Chloe Evans on doing GP locum sessions outside your area

NASGP member Dr Chloe Evans splits her time between Oxford and Shetland. She explains how she works across two areas, and how NASGP membership supports her work

Q&A: What is a chambers? 

NASGP’s Locum Chambers model connects GP locums, so having a flexible career no longer means working in isolation.

Q&A: Why GP locums need terms

Terms keep GP locums, and the practices that book them, working safely – and they also help practices make the most of the locum cover they book. This year, new policies for PPE, infection control and remote working make it more important than ever to write good terms before making a booking. Dr Sara Chambers, NASGP Head of Clinical Excellence and Safety, answers frequently-asked questions on GP locum terms

Ten tips for starting out as a GP locum in 2020

Richard Fieldhouse lists the skills, products and memberships that will have a positive impact on a new GP locum's career this year

Day in the life of a Locum Chambers manager

Ali Lewis, NASGP’s longstanding Locum Chambers Manager, told us about a day in the life behind the scenes: how long it takes to join a Chambers, how managers get more practices on board, and how Instant Book is keeping locums busy during remote working

NASGP end of year survey 2020

Tell us your plans for 2021 and help NASGP design services for you.

Q&A: How NASGP Locum Chambers manage complaints and significant events

Complaints and significant events can be a stressful part of a GP locum’s career, especially when faced alone. But they also pose an opportunity to improve patient satisfaction, and support the GP locum to learn and grow

Parents

NASGP membership is completely free from the point you notify us that you’re on parenting leave.

GP locum chambers

Locum chambers are small, independent groups of local self-employed GP locums all working together through a shared management and clinical governance structure. They support NHS GP practices and locums to maintain, and in some cases improve, local GP services.

Preparing for a 
Covid-19 winter

Dr Rachel Birch, medicolegal consultant at MPS, provides advice and practical tips for locum GPs

Financial advice for GP locums working ‘overtime’

Beware of unforeseen financial impact on NHS pension, national insurance and tax, specialist medical accountant Liz Densley advises

Remote working: the blurred line between triage and consultation

It is imperative that triage and consultation are recognised as unique, and different, skills by partners and professional bodies

How can I find out more about NASGP Locum Chambers?

Whether you’re a GP locum, GP practice or primary care organisation, our NASGP Locum Chambers page gives you plenty of useful information. If you need to know more, please email us at info@nasgp.org.uk.

GP locum skills and how to achieve them

Setting the right locum rates

You need to charge rates that work both for you and for the GP practices that book you. We help you calculate what’s fair and profitable, and support you in negotiating the best terms.

Code of Good Practice

NASGP has a continued aim to promote high standards of medical care. In doing so the NASGP has detailed its Code of Good Practice, which endorses the GMCs ‘Good Medical Practice’

Standardised Practice Information Portal

NASGP’s free Standardised Practice Information Portal (Spip) allows every practice to store, share and retrieve all those ever-changing practice-specific phone numbers, email addresses, contact details, policies, guidelines, soft intelligence and service changes  in one easy-to-find place at the moment you need it

Risk management

The Medical Protection Society has supported the NASGP for over 10 years with help and advice for sessional GPs around the management of risk

The GP locum tutor

An anoymous survey of GP locums finds that the majority of respondents were very happy with their role and recommended a GP locum career to students thanks to flexibility, workload autonomy and patient care, and reduction of admin and bureaucracy. But GP locums also said they faced isolation, disrespect and difficulty accessing knowledge updates

Tax-free 
childcare (TFC) scheme during Covid-19

If you or your spouse/partner have ‘adjusted income’ under £100,000 in this tax year, you may be entitled to support under new rules

Reducing risk 
on busy days

Dr Rachel Birch from MPS provides practical advice on how GP locums can catch omissions such as missed referrals, and prevent similar incidents in future

e-learning – Leg ulcer infection: antibiotic prescribing

A NICE update on antibiotic prescribing for leg ulcers published in February 2020 includes a good visual guide to best practice

Medicolegal risks for GP locums during Covid-19

GP locums may be asked to work in new ways in unfamiliar environments as a result of the Covid-19 crisis. Dr Rachel Birch, medicolegal consultant at MPS, advises on dilemmas they may face

Actions after incorrect use of combined hormonal contraception (ie missed pills guidance)

The FSRH provided a good summary of guidance for those advising women about what to do after a missed pill

Giving effective feedback to a GP colleague

Dr Rachel Birch presents two case studies of GP locums who fed back to practices.