Life as a locum

Sumita Mistry has been working as a locum for seven years, interspersed with being a resident optometrist. Here, she tells OT  about the value of her optical relationships

Teesside optometrist, Sam Phillips, explains why preparation is key when starting at new practices as a locum

London optometrist, Priya Morjaria, on triaging as a locum and finding a community during the pandemic

Locum optometrist, Yee Ting Liu, talks to OT  about the benefits of being her own boss and how a patient who returned to say thank you reminded her why she is an optometrist

Locum optometrist, Rebecca Rushton, shares her experiences as a locum in a new city when the pandemic hit

Beheshta Hamid discusses becoming a locum as a newly-qualified optometrist and the benefits she gets from increased testing times

Locum optometrist, Sammara Ahmed, on the instant variety that locuming provides her and realising she is valued during the pandemic

Rochdale-based locum optometrist Atif Hussain was one of the first to sign up to work for the NHS’s Test and Trace team. He tells OT  about his new role handling local outbreaks

Life is tough for many locum optometrists at the moment. We revisited some of our recent Life as a Locum subjects to see how they are coping.

Optometrist and AOP Awards 2020 Locum of the Year, Prinal Patel, on her preparation routines and the importance of getting to know the team