So here’s the dilemma: you understand the ethos behind LocumDeck’s Instant Book, you get how it helps you work on your own terms. You’ve enjoyed spending a happy half hour setting up your dream sessions in your chosen practices and specifying your own rates (I won’t do visits in practice A because I spend more time looking for a parking space than seeing patients; in practice B I need longer appointments and catch up slots because they triage everything through the nurse clinic etc). You love the way that all you then have to do is add availability to your calendar and then your chosen practices each get to see the sessions that you have set for them – and then they can just book you.
If it sounds as if this was made for locums, well that’s because it was. NASGP built LocumDeck with its optional Instant Book as an antidote to the anguish of practices desperately seeking cover and the practice-facing companies seeking to fill the gap by ‘Uberising’ the medical workforce. So far as we know, LocumDeck is now the only truly locum-led, locum-developed booking tool with safety and professional autonomy baked into it.
But if you think Instant Book just benefits locums, then ask the practice manager that has just Instant Booked me for 10 sessions in under 60 seconds at no cost to them. They will tell you that it is transformational. That practice has saved potentially hours having to hunt for locums. And if they used a traditional booking platform or agency, more time and attention spent posting a job requirement and then wait to sift through applicants. And cost-wise, they’ve saved at least £600 of agency booking costs.