“Being in domiciliary beforehand was quite valuable”

In domiciliary, in care homes across Yorkshire. I was quite used to working alone, and sometimes being the only practitioner at the location, which meant locuming wasn’t as scary as it might have been if I had made the jump straight after qualification. Working as a domiciliary optometrist beforehand was quite valuable.

When I started as a locum, I wish I had known…

That the market is quite saturated. There are so many locums up here. We’ve got the University of Bradford, and also the University of Huddersfield, so we end up with a lot of optometrists just in this area. You have to be prepared to travel if you’re living in an area that is densely populated with optometrists.

The person who helped me as a locum was…

One of my very good friends, Sita, who had started locuming before I did. She encouraged me to take the plunge and she has been really good at talking me through it step-by-step. Even doing simple things like sending an invoice – you don’t learn how to do that at university or school.

I made the decision to become a locum because...

In domiciliary, I only had one coworker. I missed having 10 or 15 coworkers, working at a multiple practice.

I really like to travel, and with an employed job where you can only have 28 days of annual leave in a year, it could be limiting. If I want to tick off as many countries as possible, I find managing my own diary and taking more leave than the average person works out quite well for me.

Eventually, though, I would like to move back into domiciliary again. I think it’s nice to keep it varied and to have options and flexibility.

I would like to move back into domiciliary again. I think it’s nice to keep it varied and to have options and flexibility

On my first day of locuming...

One of my colleagues, who I still sometimes work with, couldn’t remember the password for the computer for at least an hour. Once we managed to get onto the computer, though, it was pretty smooth sailing. I hadn’t worked on the High Street in about 18 months so I worried I had forgotten how to do a non-domiciliary sight test, but it came back to me quite quickly.

My biggest locum challenge is…

Teleoptometry, which is starting to become more prominent. One of the practices I work at has launched a teleoptometry clinic one day a week. I think it would be interesting to know where locuming and the need for locums will stand, as teleoptometry expands.

As a locum, I’ve adapted my days by…

Trying to make sure I don’t overdo it. I quite regularly drive 140 miles to and from work every day. Driving for four hours is a shift in itself, but it’s also part of my working day. I try to make sure, if I’m working for two days, that I do have a day off. I find working five days in a row can become tiring if I have a very long commute.

Practices can make life easier for locums by…

Triaging the clinic, if they do have teleoptometry clinics, to find out why the teleoptometry patients are there. But I think practices are generally quite accommodating for locums, which is quite nice, and something I do appreciate.

One change I’ve seen whilst working as a locum is…

Some specific practices did have ghost clinics, but I do not think I work in any practices that have ghost clinics now.

My favourite thing about being a locum is…

It is nice to have so many more coworkers than the average worker when you work at five different practices in a week. You meet a lot of interesting people, and an ever-changing environment helps when I need a change of scene.

My advice for new locums is...

Try to plan your diary in advance, and make sure you do have something booked two to three months down the line. I was quite naive in thinking that I could just book things as I went along, but it’s good to be well prepared. Try to locum in quite a few practices too, so that you can find the ones that you do enjoy working at.